Back to Find Units Page

Unit of Study LEGL1004 - Australian Legal System (2022)

Show me unit information for year

Unit Snapshot

  • Anti-requisites

    Not available for students admitted to an LLB course.

  • Enrolment information

    N/A

Unit description

Introduces students to the concept of law and to the Australian legal system. Discusses basic concepts such as federalism, parliamentary sovereignty, separation of powers, rule of law, statutory interpretation, the doctrine of precedent and procedural fairness. Explores issues related to Indigenous Australian peoples and to effective equality before the law for all Australians.

Unit content

Topic 1: Nature and Sources of Law
Topic 2: The international legal framework
Topic 3: Origins of the Australian legal system
Topic 4: Aboriginal Sovereignty
Topic 5: The Constitutional framework
Topic 6: Legal Institutions and processes
Topic 7: Judicial decision-making
Topic 8: Statutory interpretation
Topic 9: Access to justice
Topic 10: Law in practice

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Gold Coast
Session2
Session2
Online
Session1,2,3
Session1

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental concepts of the Australian legal system, including federalism, parliamentary sovereignty, separation of powers, rule of law, statutory interpretation, the doctrine of precedent and procedural fairness;

understand the historical, social and political context of the foundations of the Australian legal system and evaluate whether it achieves equality before the law for groups, such as women, Indigenous peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, gays and lesbians, and children;

identify how the law is made and the institutions and processes that influence change;

identify how law enforcement operates in practice and the the role of legal and paralegal professional roles.

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
  • Michelle Sanson and Talia Anthony, 2019, Connecting with Law, 4th , Oxford University Press.

Prescribed Texts
  • Michelle Sanson and Talia Anthony, 2019, Connecting with Law, 4th , Oxford University Press.

Prescribed Texts
  • Michelle Sanson and Talia Anthony, 2019, Connecting with Law, 4th , Oxford University Press.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.