LawOne Search Help

LawOne gives users powerful search options from title lookup, right through to basic and advanced faceted full text search with multiple filters. 

Home page title lookup

Title lookup

On the Home page navigate to legislation in one-click via Lookup.

Lookup handles words (and part words) in the title, jurisdiction abbreviation (eg. CTH, VIC, WA), year and number (eg. 28 2009), and FRLI number.

Start entering the title (or jurisdiction, year number, FRLI) into the search field to generate a dynamic lookup list. Select the relevant title to go straight to the full text or details page of the legislation.

For best results, type jurisdiction or year before the title eg. vic retail, 2001 corp.

Google style full text search

The Home page lookup can also be used for fast full text search. Enter the search terms into the search field. Press enter to view results. The results can be filtered and manipulated to target results.

Search tab basic and advanced

The LawOne search syntax makes simple queries efficient and gives experienced users the ability to create precise queries using various operators and term modifiers. (By default, boolean operators are enabled, and a space between terms is an implied AND.)

Users can choose BASIC or ADVANCED mode search templates. In ADVANCED mode users can choose simple options - All terms, Any terms, Exact phrase - to infer boolean logic.

Note that search results are returned by legislative provision (section).

Search terms

Keyword and Phrase searches are simple and effective.

  • A Keyword search finds sections containing the word/s you specify. Separate keywords with a space.
  • A Phrase search finds sections containing the exact phrase you specify. The phrase must be enclosed in double quotes like “assessable income”.

Query example

Explanation

Result

writ

 

 

Finds sections containing the word writ.

Useful for finding references to specific terms but often single term searches return too many results.

writ affidavit

Finds sections containing both words - writ and affidavit (in any order).

The more words used in a query, the more precise the search.

"assessable income"

Finds sections containing the exact phrase "assessable income"

This eliminates sections where the words occur but are not next to each other or are in a different order. Makes a search more precise.

"assessable income" individual

Finds sections containing both the exact phrase "assessable income" and the word individual.

Useful to further narrow results by including more specific terms. In this example, results will be skewed to individual tax, rather than company tax.

Search operators

Search (or boolean) operators are used between terms to produce more relevant results. In LawOne the search operators ‘AND’, ‘OR’ and ‘NOT’ are used to combine or exclude terms and phrases which widens or narrows the search.

  • Search operators require a term or phrase on either side of the operator. For example, child or custody is a valid query, but or custody is not.  

  • In LawOne, search operators are case insensitive. For example AND or and can be used interchangeably.

  • LawOne enables the use of a number of popular alternative operators that can be used interchangeably (see table below).

Operator (and alternatives)

Query example

Explanation

Results

AND

&, and

employee AND entitlements

Finds sections containing BOTH terms - employee and entitlements.

The more terms used in a query, the more precise the search.

NOT

!, not

custody NOT child

Finds sections containing the term custody that DO NOT include the term child.

Using NOT decreases the number of search results by excluding information.

OR

|, ||, or

misleading OR deceptive

Finds sections containing ANY of the terms - misleading, or deceptive, or both.

The use of OR widens the search and increases the number of results.

Queries without operators

related party transaction

Finds sections containing ALL the words - related AND party AND transactions.

In Lawone by default, spaces between terms are treated as an AND.

Special operators

We have included some ‘special’ boolean operators that may be familiar to some users.

Operator (and alternatives)

Query example

Explanation

Results

+

required operator

+water entitlement

Finds sections that MUST contain the term water, and may contain the term entitlement.

The more terms used in a query, the more precise the search.

-

prohibit operator

“child custody” -”police custody”

Finds sections containing the phrase “child custody” but MUST NOT contain the phrase “police custody”.

Similar to the NOT operator, the prohibit operator  decreases the number of search results by excluding information.

Operator Precedence and Grouping

Query operators are evaluated in the following order (operator precedence):

  1. NOT, then

  2. OR, then

  3. AND.

Parentheses can be used to group clauses to form sub-queries. This gives the user the ability to control the order or operator precedence.

The query - damages AND (civil OR criminal) - requires that the term "damages" exists, along with either term "civil" or "criminal".

(Note: If the same operators appear in a query, they are evaluated from left to right.)

Term modifiers

TimeBase supports a variety of term modifiers that add flexibility or precision, as needed, to search queries.

Wildcard searches

LawOne supports single and multiple character wildcard searches within single terms. Wildcard characters can be applied to single terms (anywhere within the term). Wildcards cannot be used in an EXACT PHRASE search.

Wildcard operator

Query example

Explanation

Results

?

Matches any single character

licen?e

Finds sections containing the term licence and license.

Useful when unsure of the spelling of a term.

*

Matches any character string (including none)

neglig*

Finds sections containing variations of the term negligence - negligent, negligence, negligently, negligible.

Useful for finding variations of terms.

Proximity Searches

All search queries in LawOne return search results by legislative provision (section), organised by legislative title.

For example, the query market AND manipulation finds legislative provisions that contain BOTH terms. 

Character proximity is aso available. This proximity search provides additional control to return results where terms are within a specific distance from one another within a section.

Proximity operator

Query example

Explanation

Results

/n

Where n denotes the number of characters

police /20 custody

Finds sections containing the term police within 20 characters of the term custody.

Proximity search results should be more precise as they contain terms more closely ‘associated’ with each other.

“phrase 1” /n “phrase 2”

Phrase proximity

“police custody” /20 “authorised officer”

Finds sections containing the phrase “police custody” within 20 characters of the phrase “authorised officer”.

Complex proximity search may be unnecessary in TimeBase because results are returned by legislative section.

Word forms

A search for a singular word, also returns its possessive. A search for a possessive word, also returns its singular.

To search for plurals, either search for the plural itself or use a wildcard.

Relevance 

Search results can be filtered to remove redundant material. Results can be further sorted by Relevance, Title, Date and Jurisdiction.

Relevance ranking of results in LawOne is determined by a complex algorithm. Factors involved in the relevance ranking of a legislative title include:

  • The more sections containing results, the higher its relevance.

  • The frequency with which a term appears in a section. The higher the term frequency, the higher its relevance.

  • The rarer a term is across all legislation, the higher its relevance.

  • The more search terms that are found in a section, the higher its relevance.

  • The more words a section contains, the lower its relevance.

Search troubleshooting

To help users get good search results, LawOne can now process a number of alternative search operators. Also, incomplete or incorrect boolean queries (for example that are unbalanced or contain unknown characters) will still (in most cases) provide results by ignoring the incorrect operators.

Search issue

Alternative strategy

Too many results

Your search query may not be specific enough. Using more terms, phrases, and the AND and NOT operators can make a search more precise.

Too few results

Your search query may be too narrow. Using fewer terms, phrases, and the OR operator can make a search more broad.

Unsure of spelling

Single (?) and multiple (*) character wildcards can be used when you are unsure of the spelling of a word.

Need other word forms

Multiple character (*) wildcard can be used to get straightforward word stems.

Unsure how to use boolean operators

LawOne is designed to make searching easy. A simple term search is best for most users. Use Advanced mode for simple options that infer boolean logic - choose All terms, Any terms, Exact phrase.

I only want results relating to one Act/Regulation

Use the ‘Search within’ functionality to limit the search to a specific title.