The Priestley 11

Pick the subjects you are in this semester

Each page sets out what the subject covers, a short list of cases you are likely to meet, and how to use CaseSharp for the four things that subject will actually assess: problem questions, case notes, AGLC4 essays and exam scaffolds.

• Usually first yearCriminal Law and ProcedureElements of an offence, the defences, and the process from charge to sentence.
• Usually first yearTortsNegligence end to end, the civil liability statutes, and the intentional torts.
• Usually first yearContractsFormation, terms and construction, the vitiating factors, discharge and remedies.
• Usually second yearPropertyPossession and title, native title, the Torrens system, and competing interests.
• Usually third yearEquity and TrustsFiduciary obligations, confidence, estoppel, express trusts and the remedial constructive trust.
• Usually third yearCorporations LawSeparate legal personality, directors' duties, members' remedies and governance.
• Usually second yearAdministrative LawJudicial review, jurisdictional error, procedural fairness and merits review.
• Usually second yearConstitutional LawFederalism, heads of power, section 109, the separation of judicial power and implied freedoms.
• Usually third yearCivil ProcedureCommencing proceedings, pleadings, discovery, case management, costs and finality.
• Usually third yearEvidenceRelevance, hearsay, opinion, tendency and coincidence, credibility and the exclusions.
• Usually final yearEthics and Professional ResponsibilityDuties to the court and the client, conflicts, confidentiality, discipline and admission.

Studying at one of these schools

Degree structures and calendars differ enough to matter. These pages set out how law is structured at each school, the 2026 dates we can source, and what your library already gives you.

• USYD
• UNSW
• Melbourne
• Monash
• UQ
• ANU
• Macquarie
• UTS
• QUT
• Deakin

How to use a subject page

1. 01Read the case list against your reading list. Anything that overlaps is worth briefing early rather than the night before the tutorial.
2. 02Open a case in the reader and open its citation graph. The cases that cite it are ranked by influence, each one linked, so you read them and decide.
3. 03Turn what you have found into an IRAC brief, then take the citation out in AGLC4 full form and short form with pinpoints.
4. 04Before the exam, check the citing cases for every authority on your scaffold, so you catch anything a later court has moved since you wrote it.

Questions students ask about this

What are the Priestley 11?

They are the eleven areas of knowledge that the admitting authorities in every Australian jurisdiction require before you can be admitted to practice: Criminal Law and Procedure, Torts, Contracts, Property, Equity including Trusts, Company Law, Administrative Law, Federal and State Constitutional Law, Civil Dispute Resolution, Evidence, and Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Every accredited law degree in the country has to cover them, which is why the same subject names turn up at every school.

Does the order I take them in matter?

The sequencing is close to universal even though nobody mandates it: criminal law, contracts and torts early, property, constitutional and administrative in the middle, equity, corporations, evidence and civil procedure late, and ethics last. Your school sets the actual prerequisites, and combined degrees stretch the same sequence over more years.

Are these the only subjects CaseSharp covers?

No. The corpus covers federal, state and territory decisions across every area of Australian law, so electives and honours research are searchable too. The eleven are organised as their own pages because they are the shared skeleton of every law degree, not because the search stops at their edges.