Part I: The legal system

Principal focus:
Students develop an understanding of the nature and functions of law through the examination of the law-making processes and institutions.

Sources of contemporary Australian law common law
Students learn about Description including main characteristics/features
British origins of the Australian Legal System including the development of common law

Students learn about:
Definition
Relevant examples or IDMLC equity The body of law that supplements the common law and corrects injustices by judging each case on it’s merits and applying principles of fairness

precedent

A judgement that is authority for a legal principle and that serves to provide guidance for deciding cases that have similar facts.

Description including main characteristics/features adversarial system of trial

Is the English system of law that influenced the Australian court systems. In the trails the two sides of a case try to prove to an impartial judge that their facts are strong enough to disprove the other teams evidence. The defendant doesn’t have to prove anything and they are assumed innocent till proven guilty. This system is used in countries like Australia, United Kingdom, America and Canada. The two sides are called the defence and prosecution and they each have lawyers that represent their client for each side. These lawyers do most of the talking in a court case and it’s their job to present the evidence to the judge or jury. The judge or jury then make an impartial decision on whether the accused it guilty or not. court hierarchy
Is when different courts have certain power over other courts. All courts have the power to hear a case for the first time. Some courts can also hear appeals from lower courts. This means that a decision from a lower court can be appealed if the losing party feels there has been an error in the lower court’s legal reasoning. However a decision made from a higher court can not be appealed to a lower court. jurisdiction of state and federal courts
Each court has it’s own jurisdiction (an area over which it has authority), but it only covers the area of which each court controls. The higher courts can influence the lower courts decisions, while the lower courts can’t have any say in what happens in courts higher than them.
Students learn about
Statute Law Description including main characteristics/features role and structure of parliament

Parliament debates proposed legislation , passes or rejects it and amends legislation. All states and territories expect Queensland, are bicameral (which means that they have two houses) the upper and lower houses. The federal Parliament two houses are called the Senate (Upper House) and the House of Representatives (lower House). The political party that wins the majority of seats in the lower house forms the government. These parties then unite to form a government such as the Liberal – National Coalition. The political party who has the remaining seats in the lower house form the opposition. Ministers are those members of the government who have a special responsibility for a department eg. Minister for Education. These ministers then form a cabinet, the minister make decisions on policy and laws to be drafted for consideration by parliament.
Legislative process – how legislation is made/amended

A law starts of as a bill, which is introduced by a minister who are responsible for preparing the bill. The bill is then put forward to the House of Representative where it discussed between it’s members and goes though several stages. It first has to have it’s First Reading where the bill is read aloud and each member receives a copy of the proposed bill. The second reading is when the minister who