{"id":"law-reporting-act-1981","name":"Law Reporting Act 1981","slug":"law-reporting-act-1981","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":53471,"registerId":"wa-law-reporting-act-1981-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-02","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Law Reporting Act 1981","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nLaw Reporting Act 1981\n\nWestern Australia\n\nLaw Reporting Act 1981\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 1\n\n2. Interpretation 1\n\n3. Attorney General to regulate law reporting 2\n\n4. Contracts 2\n\n5. Delegation 2\n\n6. Consent of Attorney General required 3\n\n7. Law Reporting Advisory Board 3\n\n8. Term and vacation of office of members 4\n\n9. Deputy members 4\n\n10. Procedure of Board 5\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 6\n\nDefined terms\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nLaw Reporting Act 1981\n\nAn Act to regulate the reporting of judicial decisions and to constitute a Law Reporting Advisory Board and define its functions.\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Law Reporting Act 1981*.\n\n##### 2. Interpretation\n\nIn this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —\n\n  Attorney General means the Attorney General of Western Australia;\n\n  Board means the Law Reporting Advisory Board constituted by section 7;\n\n  Chief Justice means the Chief Justice of Western Australia;\n\n  law report does not include a report of a judicial decision of a court in the State published in a newspaper or other news media or in a professional or like journal if such report is not or does not purport to be part of a series of law reports;\n\n  Law Society means the Law Society of Western Australia (Incorporated);\n\n  member means a member of the Board.\n\n[Section 2 amended: No. 42 of 2004 s. 162(2); No. 21 of 2023 s. 652.]\n\n##### 3. Attorney General to regulate law reporting\n\nThe Attorney General may do all or any of the following —\n\n(a) authorise the preparation, publication and sale of —\n\n(i) reports of judicial decisions of any court in the State;\n\n(ii) any summary, extract or digest of any such reports;\n\n(iii) any other legal works relating to such reports;\n\nand\n\n(b) all negotiations and other acts or things incidental to or necessary to be done in connection with the powers conferred by paragraph (a).\n\n##### 4. Contracts\n\n(1) The Attorney General may make and enter into contracts with any person, firm or corporation in connection with the exercise of his powers under this Act.\n\n(2) A contract entered into under subsection (1) shall be in the name of the Attorney General and shall be entered into on behalf of the State.\n\n##### 5. Delegation\n\n(1) The Attorney General may, either generally or as otherwise provided by the instrument of delegation, by writing signed by him, delegate to any person or body any of his powers under this Act, other than the power to make and enter into contracts conferred by section 4 and the power of delegation conferred by this section.\n\n(2) For the purposes of this Act, the exercise by a delegate of a power delegated under this section shall be deemed to be the exercise of the power by the Attorney General.\n\n(3) A delegation under this section may —\n\n(a) be made subject to such conditions, qualifications, and exceptions as are set out in the instrument of delegation;\n\n(b) be revoked or varied by instrument in writing signed by the Attorney General.\n\n(4) The Attorney General may exercise a power notwithstanding that he has delegated its exercise under this section.\n\n##### 6. Consent of Attorney General required\n\nExcept with the written consent of the Attorney General, a person shall not after the coming into operation of this Act commence or continue the publication of or publish or arrange the publication of any law report of a judicial decision of any court in the State (either separately or in conjunction with reports of other decisions).\n\n##### 7. Law Reporting Advisory Board\n\n(1) There shall be a Law Reporting Advisory Board the function of which shall be to advise the Attorney General with respect to law reporting in the State and the exercise of his powers and duties under this Act and to perform such other functions as may be delegated to the Board by the Attorney General under section 5.\n\n(2) The Board shall consist of 6 members appointed by the Governor of whom —\n\n(a) one member shall be a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice and shall be the chairman of the Board;\n\n(b) one member nominated by the Chief Justice shall be either a Judge of The District Court of Western Australia or a Judge of the Family Court of Western Australia;\n\n(c) 3 members shall be legal practitioners nominated by the Council of the Law Society; and\n\n(d) one member shall be a legal practitioner nominated by the Attorney General.\n\n(3) The performance of the functions of the Board is not affected by reason of there being a vacancy or vacancies in the membership of the Board.\n\n[Section 7 amended: No. 42 of 2004 s. 162(3).]\n\n##### 8. Term and vacation of office of members\n\n(1) Subject to this Act, every member of the Board shall hold his office for such period not exceeding 3 years as may be specified in his instrument of appointment and shall be eligible for re‑appointment.\n\n(2) A member may resign his office at any time by notice in writing delivered to the Attorney General.\n\n##### 9. Deputy members\n\n(1) A person who is empowered by section 7(2)(a), (b), or (d) to nominate a member may appoint a duly qualified person to be a deputy member of the Board in respect of each member nominated by him and a deputy member is entitled, in the absence of the member of whom he is the deputy from a meeting of the Board, to attend that meeting and when so attending shall be deemed to be a member.\n\n(2) The Council of the Law Society may appoint not more than 3 duly qualified persons to be deputy members of the Board in respect of the members nominated by the Council and, in the event of the absence of such a member from a meeting of the Board, the President of the Law Society may designate any one of such deputy members who shall be entitled to attend that meeting and when so attending shall be deemed to be a member.\n\n##### 10. Procedure of Board\n\n(1) The chairman of the Board shall preside at all meetings of the Board at which he is present and if he is not present at a meeting the deputy member appointed in respect of the chairman shall preside and if such deputy member is not present the members who are present shall appoint one of their number to preside at that meeting.\n\n(2) The quorum for a meeting of the Board shall be 4 members.\n\n(3) The Board shall cause a record to be kept of their proceedings.\n\n(4) The Board may transact any of their business by the circulation of papers and a resolution in writing approved in writing by a majority of the members of the Board shall be as valid and effectual as if it has been passed at a meeting of the Board by the votes of the members so approving the resolution.\n\n(5) Subject to this Act, the Board may regulate their own proceedings.\n\n![]()\n\nNotes\n\nThis is a compilation of the *Law Reporting Act 1981* and includes amendments made by other written laws. For provisions that have come into operation, and for information about any reprints, see the compilation table.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Short title** | **Number and year** | **Assent** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Law Reporting Act 1981* | 23 of 1981 | 26 May 1981 | 26 May 1981 |\n| **Reprint of the *Law Reporting Act 1981*** **as at 15 Nov 2002** | | | |\n| *Workers’ Compensation Reform Act 2004* s. 162 | 42 of 2004 | 9 Nov 2004 | 14 Nov 2005 (see s. 2 and *Gazette* 31 Dec 2004 p. 7131 and 17 Jun 2005 p. 2657);   Para (b) of proclamation published 31 Dec 2004 p. 7131 revoked (see *Gazette* 17 Jun 2005 p. 2657) |\n| *Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023* Pt. 15 Div. 3 Subdiv. 7 | 21 of 2023 | 24 Oct 2023 | 1 Jul 2024 (see s. 2(d) and SL 2024/34 cl. 2) |\n\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nAttorney General 2\n\nBoard 2\n\nChief Justice 2\n\nlaw report 2\n\nLaw Society 2\n\nmember 2\n\n© State of Western Australia 2024.\n\nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). To view relevant information and for a link to a copy of the licence, visit www.legislation.wa.gov.au.\n\nAttribute work as: © State of Western Australia 2024.\n\nBy Authority: GEOFF O. LAWN, Government Printer\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains focused on its original purpose of regulating the reporting of judicial decisions and establishing the Advisory Board. The amendments made in 2004 and 2023 were minor technical updates (changing references to court names and updating legislative citations) rather than expansions of scope."},"complexity_factors":["Short statute with only 10 operative sections","Minimal cross-referencing (only internal references to sections 4, 5, and 7)","6 defined terms in the interpretation section, all straightforward","Simple administrative structure (single board with clear membership rules)","No nested exceptions or complex conditional logic","Procedural rules for the Board (sections 8-10) are standard governance provisions","Only two substantive amendments since 1981 (2004 and 2023), both minor updating references"],"plain_english_summary":"This law gives the Attorney General exclusive authority to authorise, prepare, publish and sell official reports of Western Australian court decisions, and to contract publishers to do so. An advisory board of judges and lawyers advises the Attorney General on law reporting.\n\nIt affects legal publishers, lawyers and judges (and indirectly the public) because it controls how precedents are officially recorded and who may publish them, shaping access, quality and competition in legal reporting."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Amendments recorded in the compilation (notably in 2004 and 2023) update definitions and some drafting, but they do not materially expand the Act’s core scope. The instrument continues to: regulate the publication of systematic law reports, vest central authorisation and contracting power in the Attorney General (ss 3–6), and establish an advisory Board (s 7). There is no indication in the text of a substantial shift beyond those original functions."},"complexity_factors":["Short, self-contained Act (10 substantive sections)","6 defined terms in the interpretation section (s 2)","Key cross-cutting provisions: authorisation (s 3), contracts (s 4), delegation (s 5), consent requirement (s 6)","One main conditional prohibition (consent required) with a single definition carve-out for media reports (s 2 and s 6)","Board composition rules with nomination and deputy mechanisms (s 7–9)","Simple procedural provisions (quorum, written resolutions) rather than layered exceptions (s 10)","Limited number of external cross-references; some historical amendment notes but no dense cross-referencing to other statutes"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does (in plain English)**\n\n- Gives the Attorney General of Western Australia the power to oversee, authorise and arrange the publication and sale of law reports — that is, systematic collections or series of judicial decisions — and related summaries, digests and allied legal works (see s 3).\n- Lets the Attorney General enter contracts on behalf of the State to arrange preparation, publication and sale of those reports (s 4).\n- Allows the Attorney General to delegate most of these powers in writing to other people or bodies (s 5), while keeping the power to make contracts and to re-delegate for himself.\n- Makes it an offence to start or continue publishing a law report of a Western Australian court without the Attorney General's written consent (s 6). Note: the Act excludes ordinary news reports or journal articles that do not form part of a series of law reports from the definition of \"law report\" (s 2).\n- Creates a Law Reporting Advisory Board to advise the Attorney General about law reporting and to carry out any functions the Attorney General delegates to it (s 7). The Board has six members: a Supreme Court judge (chair) nominated by the Chief Justice, another judge nominated by the Chief Justice, three legal practitioners nominated by the Law Society, and one legal practitioner nominated by the Attorney General (s 7(2)).\n- Sets membership details: terms (up to 3 years, re-appointment allowed) (s 8), deputy members (s 9), meeting procedure, quorum (4) and record-keeping (s 10).\n\n**Who this affects**\n\n- Attorney General and his or her office (decision-maker and contract-holder) (ss 3–6).\n- Private and commercial legal publishers who produce systematic law reports — they cannot start or continue such publications without written consent from the Attorney General (s 6).\n- The Law Reporting Advisory Board, the Law Society (which nominates members), and the judiciary (members are nominated by judicial officers) (s 7).\n- Users of law reports (lawyers, courts, academics, firms) as the Act governs who may produce authorised, saleable series of judicial decisions (s 3).\n\n**Why it matters (official purpose, and practical effects)**\n\n- The Act’s declared purpose is to regulate the reporting of judicial decisions and to create a board to advise on that reporting (long title; s 3 and s 7).\n\n- Practical consequences and trade-offs:\n  - Gatekeeping and authorisation: the written-consent requirement (s 6) centralises control with the Attorney General. That means private publishers must seek permission before issuing a series of law reports; permissions can be granted, withheld, or conditioned (s 6). The Act gives the Attorney General broad authority to authorise and contract for publication (s 3–4), which creates the legal mechanism for exclusive publishing arrangements if the Attorney General wishes to use contracts that confer exclusivity (s 3–4).\n  - Competition and prices: because the Attorney General can contract for publication and require consent from others (ss 3–4, 6), the market for multi-volume or series law reports can be shaped by those contracts. That may reduce competing series unless consent is granted to multiple publishers; the Act itself does not set pricing or competition rules but provides the legal lever to influence them.\n  - Administrative burden and discretion: running an approval process and negotiating contracts imposes resource costs on the Attorney General’s office. Delegation (s 5) can mitigate bottlenecks but also spreads discretion to delegates whose decisions are treated as the Attorney General’s (s 5(2)).\n  - Limited carve-outs for media: routine newspaper or journal reports that are not part of a law-report series are excluded from the definition (s 2), so ordinary news coverage of court decisions remains outside the Act’s licensing regime.\n  - Legal uncertainty and compliance risk: the Act turns on what counts as a \"law report\" (s 2). Publishers near the boundary (e.g. regular online case summaries) will need to assess whether their output requires consent, creating compliance costs and potential disputes.\n  - Advisory role, not direct control over content: the Board is principally advisory (s 7(1)). It can also exercise delegated functions, but the Attorney General holds the statutory powers.\n\n**Who pays, who decides, and what behaviour changes**\n\n- Who pays: buyers of authorised reports pay the publisher; the State (through the Attorney General) may enter and fund contracts for production and distribution (s 4). Publishers bear the cost of obtaining consent and complying with contract terms.\n- Who decides: the Attorney General decides on authorisations and contracts (ss 3–4, 6). The Governor appoints Board members (s 7(2)) from nominations by the Chief Justice, the Law Society and the Attorney General. Delegates approved by the Attorney General may exercise many of his powers (s 5).\n- Behaviour changes: private publishers must seek written consent before launching or continuing a law-report series (s 6); the Attorney General (or delegates) will choose whether to authorise, contract or restrict publication (ss 3–6). The Board will advise and may exercise delegated tasks (s 7).\n\n**Implementation risks and monitoring points**\n\n- The Act gives wide discretion to the Attorney General but includes no detailed procedural rules for how consent decisions are to be taken or reviewed (ss 3–6). That raises questions about transparency, timelines for decisions, and appeal routes.\n- Because the statute allows contracts in the name of the Attorney General and on behalf of the State (s 4), contract terms (including exclusivity, royalties, or distribution limits) will materially determine market outcomes more than the statute itself.\n- The exclusion for news/journal reports (s 2) reduces the likelihood of suppressing ordinary media coverage, but the line between a \"series\" and recurring online summaries may require factual and legal judgement.\n\n(Primary references: ss 2–10.)"},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/law-reporting-act-1981","history":"/api/acts/law-reporting-act-1981/history","analysis":"/api/acts/law-reporting-act-1981/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/law-reporting-act-1981/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/law-reporting-act-1981/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/law-reporting-act-1981/documents"}}