Author ORCID Identifier
Patrick Leslie 0000-0002-9218-8981
Russell Smyth 0000-0001-6593-5462
Tonja Jacobi 0000-0002-5200-5765
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Keywords
Comparative judicial behavior, Australia, Apex courts, Data, High Court of Australia, Dissent, Judicial ideology, Judicial agenda setting
Abstract
Comparative research on law and legal institutions depends on high-quality data infrastructure. This article introduces the Australian High Court Database—a new resource that encodes structured information on all full judgments of the High Court of Australia between 1995 and 2020, and all leave applications (Australia’s equivalent to petitions for certiorari) from 2003 to 2018. The database is built in accordance with core principles that support comparative research: it is adaptable, and comparable. By attending to jurisdictional specificity while adhering to general standards, the database supports both within-country analysis and cross-national comparison. We illustrate how the Australian High Court Database can be used to study comparative judicial behavior by analyzing judicial dissent rates across apex courts, judicial ideology, and agenda setting.
First Page
251
Publication Title
Journal of Law and Empirical Analysis
Recommended Citation
Pat Leslie, Zoë Robinson, Russell Smyth & Tonja Jacobi, Supporting Comparative Studies of Judicial Behavior: Introducing the Australian High Court Database, 3 J. L. & Empirical Analysis 251 (2026).