# Commonwealth Law Reports

The Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) (ISSN 0069-7133) are the authorised reports of decisions of the High Court of Australia. The Commonwealth Law Reports are published by the Lawbook Company, a division of Thomson Reuters. James Merralls AM QC was the editor of the Reports from 1969 until his death in 2016. The current editors are Paul Vout KC and Peter Willis SC.
Each reported judgment includes a headnote written by an expert reporter (by convention, a practising barrister) which, as an authorised report, has been approved by the High Court. The current reporters are as follows:
* Hannah Canham
* Roshan Chaile
* Bora Kaplan
* James McComish
* William Newland
* Jakub Patela
* Stephen Puttick
* Daniel Reynolds
* Marcus Roberts
* Alexander Solomon-Bridge
* Ahmed Terzic
* Julia Wang
* Michael Wells
* Radhika Withana
The headnotes include a summary of counsel's legal arguments. The Reports also include tables of cases reported, affirmed, reversed, overruled, applied or judicially commented on and cited.
The Reports are available in PDF format from Westlaw AU. Scans of the first 100 volumes of the Reports, covering cases from 1903 to 1959, were freely published on the High Court's website and on BarNet JADE as part of the One-100 project.

## Editors and reporters

The editors of the Commonwealth Law Reports from time to time have been as follows:
Editors of the Commonwealth Law Reports :
| # | Editor | Volumes | Years |
| 1 | James C Anderson | 1–18 | 1903–1914 |
| 2 | Alfred H Hayball | 19–50 | 1914–1934 |
| 3 | E F Healy | 49–64 | 1933–1941 |
| 4 | H Headen Cuthbert (Assistant Editor) | 51–58 | 1934–1937 |
| 5 | B Sugerman KC | 64–70 | 1940–1945 |
| 6 | B P Macfarlan QC | 70–99 | 1945–1958 |
| 7 | R A Howell | 99–120 | 1957–1970 |
| 8 | A J Leslie (Assistant Editor) | 114 | 1965 |
| 9 | M G Morley (Assistant Editor) | 117–122 | 1967–1970 |
| 10 | J D Merralls AM QC | 118–257 | 1968–2016 |
| 11 | C J Horan KC | 256–275 | 2016–2024 |
| 12 | P T Vout KC | 256– | 2016– |
| 13 | P G Willis SC | 276– | 2024– |
The reporters of the Commonwealth Law Reports from time to time have been as follows:
Reporters of the Commonwealth Law Reports :
| # | Reporter | Volumes | Years |
| 1 | W A Barton | 1 | 1903–1904 |
| 2 | Bennet Langton | 1–41 | 1903–1929 |
| 3 | H E Manning | 1–3 | 1903–1906 |
| 4 | C A White | 1–10 | 1903–1910 |
| 5 | N G Pilcher | 3–4 | 1905–1907 |
| 6 | H V Jaques | 5–12 | 1908–1911 |
| 7 | C E Weigall | 9–12 | 1910–1911 |
| 8 | Norman McGhie | 16–19 | 1912–1915 |
| 9 | D Gavan Duffy | 17–20 | 1913–1915 |
| 10 | A L Campbell | 18–19 | 1914–1915 |
| 11 | R T Gore | 20–22 | 1915–1917 |
| 12 | C A Weston | 21–26 | 1915–1919 |
| 13 | Neil McTague | 25–38 | 1918–1927 |
| 14 | J L Wassell | 30–39 | 1921–1927 |
| 15 | P V Feltham | 38–39 | 1926–1927 |
| 16 | E F Healy | 39–42, 66–86 | 1926–1930, 1942–1953 |
| 17 | G S Reed | 39–40 | 1926–1928 |
| 18 | B J Jeffries | 39–90 | 1926–1954 |
| 19 | Joseph Bales | 40–104 | 1927–1961 |
| 20 | H Dallas Wiseman | 41–66 | 1928–1943 |
| 21 | C C Brebner | 41–83 | 1928–1951 |
| 22 | R C Wright | 44–79 | 1930–1949 |
| 23 | Oliver J Gillard | 62–68 | 1939–1944 |
| 24 | B Buller Murphy | 66 | 1942–1943 |
| 25 | F T P Burt QC | 78–102 | 1948–1960 |
| 26 | J R Rex | 79–87 | 1949–1953 |
| 27 | Brian Hunter | 83–125 | 1950–1971 |
| 28 | Russell D Barton | 86–102 | 1952–1960 |
| 29 | G D Needham | 88–93 | 1953–1956 |
| 30 | M G Everett | 88–95 | 1953–1957 |
| 31 | R A Howell | 90–98 | 1953–1958 |
| 32 | W J Cuthbert | 91–92 | 1954–1955 |
| 33 | J M Macrossan | 93–95 | 1954–1957 |
| 34 | T J Lehane | 96–111 | 1956–1964 |
| 35 | G H Smith | 99–105 | 1957–1961 |
| 36 | Richard H Searby | 99–103 | 1957–1960 |
| 37 | C S C Sheller | 101–114 | 1959–1966 |
| 38 | J D Merralls | 103–117 | 1959–1968 |
| 39 | G A Kennedy | 103–139 | 1959–1978 |
| 40 | R K Todd | 103–104 | 1959–1961 |
| 41 | J D Phillips | 104–109 | 1960–1964 |
| 42 | R C Tadgell | 105–108 | 1960–1963 |
| 43 | R L Hunter | 106–111 | 1961–1964 |
| 44 | B M Debelle QC | 106–154 | 1961–1984 |
| 45 | C Brettingham-Moore | 106–120 | 1961–1970 |
| 46 | I C F Spry | 109–134 | 1963–1976 |
| 47 | R Smart | 112–114 | 1964–1966 |
| 48 | Rodney Parker | 112–115 | 1964–1966 |
| 49 | M G Morley | 112–127 | 1964–1972 |
| 50 | Michael Lazar | 115–116 | 1965–1967 |
| 51 | Peter R Graham | 116–119 | 1966–1970 |
| 52 | Naida Haxton | 116–123 | 1966–1971 |
| 53 | R A Sundberg QC | 118–183 | 1968–1995 |
| 54 | G K Downes | 120–140 | 1969–1978 |
| 54 | H G Fryberg QC | 120–154 | 1969–1984 |
| 55 | R M Webster | 121–140 | 1969–1978 |
| 56 | A C Archibald | 129–136 | 1972–1977 |
| 57 | R C Macaw | 133–144 | 1974–1980 |
| 58 | M W D White | 133–152 | 1974–1983 |
| 59 | C J S M Carr | 137–177 | 1976–1993 |
| 60 | J H Karkar | 141–159 | 1978–1985 |
| 61 | J G Santamaria | 141–168 | 1978–1990 |
| 62 | J M Bennett | 155–182 | 1983–1995 |
| 63 | M Sloss | 166–182 | 1988–1995 |
| 64 | J D Elliott | 173–197 | 1991–1999 |
| 65 | K H Bell QC | 183–189 | 1994–1997 |
| 66 | G S Clarke SC | 183–252 | 1994–2014 |
| 67 | S G E McLeish | 183–221 | 1994–2005 |
| 68 | D S Mortimer | 183–190 | 1994–1997 |
| 69 | C M Caleo | 188–208 | 1996–2002 |
| 70 | G B Johnston | 188–195 | 1996–1999 |
| 71 | M K Moshinsky SC | 189–231 | 1997–2007 |
| 72 | W A Harris | 190 | 1997 |
| 73 | D J Batt | 193–223 | 1998–2005 |
| 74 | M Y Bearman | 193–250 | 1998–2013 |
| 75 | P D Crutchfield | 194–220 | 1998–2005 |
| 76 | J E Richards | 194–228 | 1998–2006 |
| 77 | P G Willis SC | 199–256, 269 | 1999–2016, 2019 |
| 78 | D W Bennett | 202–208 | 2000–2002 |
| 79 | L G De Ferrari | 209–242 | 2001–2011 |
| 80 | C J Horan KC | 209–256 | 2001–2016 |
| 81 | P T Vout | 209–256 | 2001–2016 |
| 82 | S P Donaghue | 210–220 | 2003–2005 |
| 83 | G J Ahern | 221–242 | 2006–2011 |
| 84 | M I Borsky | 222–257 | 2006–2016 |
| 85 | E M Kingston | 223–235 | 2005–2008 |
| 86 | C K M Lye | 224–250 | 2005–2013 |
| 87 | J A Redwood | 224–258 | 2005–2016 |
| 88 | C G Button | 227–256 | 2005–2016 |
| 89 | D F C Thomas | 227–240 | 2005–2010 |
| 90 | A D Pound SC | 232–277 | 2008–2024 |
| 91 | C P Young | 235–256 | 2007–2016 |
| 92 | P D Herzfeld | 240–257 | 2009–2016 |
| 93 | N M Wood | 243–263 | 2011–2014 |
| 94 | B W Jellis | 244–254 | 2011–2015 |
| 95 | A M Dinelli KC | 246–267 | 2012–2020 |
| 96 | A F Solomon-Bridge | 248– | 2012– |
| 97 | C J Tran | 253–270 | 2013–2021 |
| 98 | H A Tiplady | 255–263 | 2014–2018 |
| 99 | R Chaile | 258– | 2015– |
| 100 | M A Hosking | 258–268 | 2015–2020 |
| 101 | J A G McComish | 258– | 2015– |
| 102 | S Zeleznikow | 258–270 | 2015–2021 |
| 103 | O M Ciolek | 259–272 | 2016–2022 |
| 104 | R W Kruse | 259–271 | 2016–2022 |
| 105 | M J Wells | 259– | 2016– |
| 106 | R Withana | 260– | 2016– |
| 107 | J Anthony-Shaw | 261–262 | 2016–2018 |
| 108 | W J Newland | 268- | 2019- |
| 109 | E J Delany | 268–276 | 2019–2024 |
| 110 | J D Williams | 269–276 | 2020–2024 |
| 111 | D J Reynolds | 271– | 2020– |
| 112 | B D Kaplan | 270– | 2021– |
| 113 | J R Wang | 271– | 2021– |
| 114 | S D Puttick | 273– | 2023– |
| 115 | H Canham | | 2024– |
| 116 | M Roberts | | 2024– |
| 117 | A Terzic | | 2024– |

## Citation

For lawyers, the Commonwealth Law Reports are the preferred source for decisions of the High Court of Australia. An example of proper citation is:
    Coleman v Power (2004) 220 CLR 1
This citation indicates that the decision of the Court in the case entitled Coleman v Power, decided in 2004, can be found beginning at page 1 of volume 220 of the Commonwealth Law Reports.
An alternative citation, which is medium neutral, is:
    Coleman v Power [2004] HCA 39
This citation refers to the case entitled Coleman v Power, which was the 39th decision published by the High Court of Australia in 2004.
Both forms of citation (parallel citations) may be used so that users can access the case from different sources:
    Coleman v Power [2004] HCA 39; (2004) 220 CLR 1
However, the Australian Guide to Legal Citation advises against parallel citations for Australian cases.