Fourth edition of this textbook, originally published 10 years ago for a course on legal research and writing in the faculty of law at the ANU. It provides an introduction to basic principles upon which the legal system in Australia is based, as well as an introduction to the skills of legal reasoning, research and writing. This updated edition also includes chapters on legal history and the common law system in Australia, as well as a guide to computer information retrieval. The law is stated as at October 1995. Includes a table of contents, table of exercises, table of cases, table of statutes and an index. The authors are all university law lecturers.