ACCESS

The following persons have right of access to the Library and use of books and databases: Lawyers holding a current practising certificate in New Zealand or Australia. Judges and Associate Judges of the Courts and Tribunals of New Zealand and the Federal and High Courts of Australia.  The Attorney-General and Solicitor-General. Registrars and Deputy Registrars of the Courts and Tribunals of New Zealand. Other persons, including members of the Law Faculty, law students, law clerks, legal executives and librarians, may use the library with the consent of the Librarian.

SERVICES

The library staff are ready to help you in any way the can. For a small fee they can photocopy material for you, search LINX, Briefcase, Lexis, all CD-ROM's and the Internet. In depth research services and help are also available - ask for the Research Librarian. Requests can be made in person or sent in by letter, telephone, fax or e-mail. The Library offers training in manual and online research methods as well as the Internet, FolioViews and the Library's in-house databases. Database Searching/Library Catalogue. The Library catalogue is part of the LINX Database and is available on the computer terminals. How to Search Guides are displayed next to them and instructions are available from Library staff by arrangement. Other New Zealand databases include resources on Company and Commercial Law, Criminal Law, Employment Law, Family Law, Fisheries, Legislation, Practice and Procedure, Property, Trusts and Succession, Resource Management, Local Government, Tax, as well as various Law Reports and Unreported Judgments. Overseas databases include resources from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the United States. Library staff have access to Lexis/Nexis and Te Puna [National Book Database]. Suggestions for new databases or other material are always welcomed. Library charges Printing/Photocopying Photocopiers and computer printers use a prepaid card system. The cards can be bought from the Library staff and come in $5, $10, $20 and $50 denominations.

COLLECTION

The Wellington High Court Library includes most New Zealand legal texts together with the principal Australian and English texts and some Canadian and American texts, all New Zealand law reports, all Australian State and Federal Court reports and most specialist reports, principal United Kingdom reports and some Canadian reports. See the complete list of serials, journals and law reports in the library for details. Some texts are kept on Closed Reserve and are not available outside of staffed hours without prior arrangement. See the list of Closed Reserved Books.  The Library also has a large collection of unreported judgments, containing Court of Appeal unreported judgments from 1970 onwards, a New Zealand wide collection of High Court judgments for the years 1946 -1974, 1977-1978, 1980-1985, and a collection of Wellington based High Court Judges' judgments from 1986 onwards. It has a selected collection of noteworthy District Court reserved judgments from 1998 onwards. The Library also has access to the New Zealand Council of Law Reporting Judgment Collection which comprises High Court Judgments from all judges plus Court of Appeal judgments from 1970 onwards. There is also an excellent collection of old and superseded texts, reference works and encyclopaedias. The O'Leary and the Theo Gray Collections and a collection of practice management and skills books are available for borrowing. Useful lists: Library Rules Complete list of serials, journals and law reports in the library Books held on Closed Reserve Manual and electronic reference tools in the library

Back to top