austlii.edu.au APIaustlii.edu.au ↗
Access AustLII's Australian legal databases via API. Browse court decisions by year, list cases, and retrieve RTF, PDF, and print-friendly download links.
No input parameters required.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/6c24f681-35dd-4b59-b1c9-216b3fc16289/list_databases' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Lists all available legal databases on AustLII organized by jurisdiction and category. Returns database names, URLs, and path identifiers that can be used with other endpoints.
No input parameters required.
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"databases": "array of objects with jurisdiction, category, database_name, url, and path"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"databases": [
{
"url": "https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/cases/cth/HCA/",
"path": "cgi-bin/viewdb/au/cases/cth/HCA",
"category": "Cth Case law",
"jurisdiction": "Commonwealth of Australia",
"database_name": "High Court of Australia 1903-"
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the austlii.edu.au API
The AustLII API provides 4 endpoints to discover, browse, and retrieve Australian legal case documents from AustLII (australasian Legal Information Institute). The list_databases endpoint enumerates every available jurisdiction and court database with its path identifier, which you then pass to get_database_years, list_cases, and get_case to navigate and download decisions in RTF, PDF, or eco-friendly print formats.
Database Discovery and Navigation
The list_databases endpoint requires no parameters and returns an array of database objects, each carrying a jurisdiction, category, database_name, url, and path. The path field (e.g. cgi-bin/viewdb/au/cases/cth/HCA) is the key input for every subsequent endpoint. get_database_years accepts that path and returns the available years for that court database in descending order, letting you confirm temporal coverage before fetching case lists.
Listing and Filtering Cases
list_cases accepts the same path parameter and an optional year string (four digits, e.g. 2024). When year is omitted, the endpoint returns the database's default listing. The response includes cases — an array of objects with title and url — plus a count integer so you know how many results came back without iterating the array. Supplying a year filter narrows results to decisions from that calendar year.
Case Document Retrieval
get_case accepts the url from a list_cases result and returns structured metadata: the title, a downloads object keyed by format (rtf, pdf, eco_friendly_print) each mapping to its download URL, the source_url that was queried, and a priority_download_url that resolves to the best available format — RTF first, then eco-friendly print, then PDF. This means your application can always request priority_download_url and receive a usable link regardless of which formats a given case exposes.
- Building a case law archive that mirrors AustLII databases by jurisdiction using
list_databasespath identifiers - Tracking new High Court decisions by year using
get_database_yearsandlist_caseswith a year filter - Automating bulk RTF downloads of court decisions via
priority_download_urlfor offline legal research - Generating a structured catalogue of Australian federal and state court decisions with titles and URLs
- Feeding case document URLs into a document analysis pipeline using
get_casedownload links - Monitoring a specific database's annual case volume by comparing
countvalues returned bylist_casesacross years
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does AustLII provide an official developer API?+
What does `get_case` return and how does format priority work?+
title, a downloads object with up to three keys — rtf, pdf, and eco_friendly_print — each pointing to a direct download URL, plus a priority_download_url that resolves to RTF if available, then eco-friendly print, then PDF. Not every case exposes all three formats; priority_download_url always surfaces the best available one.Does the API support full-text search across AustLII case content?+
Are non-case legal materials like legislation or journals available?+
list_databases returns all databases organised by category, which may include legislation and journal databases alongside case law. However, list_cases and get_case are oriented toward case documents; response fields like title and downloads assume a case document structure. Non-case material may not expose the same download formats. You can fork the API on Parse and revise to handle legislation-specific document structures.Does `list_cases` paginate results for large databases?+
count field alongside the cases array, but the current response shape does not include pagination parameters like page or offset. For databases with large case volumes this means results may be capped at the source's default listing size. You can fork the API on Parse and revise to add pagination support.