The Australian Legal System
1. “Law is based on one party not keeping their promise.”
a. Law is enforceable in a court of law.
b. Multiple levels of law; international > national/federal > state > local
2. Doctrine o
...
The Australian Legal System
1. “Law is based on one party not keeping their promise.”
a. Law is enforceable in a court of law.
b. Multiple levels of law; international > national/federal > state > local
2. Doctrine of Precedent:
a. Ensures consistency in court rulings.
b. Lower courts must follow decisions made by higher courts.
c. The High Court (top court) does not need to follow own decisions made in the past.
d. A state supreme court does not have to follow higher or similar court in another state.
3. Binding Precedent vs Persuasive Precedent
a. Binding: you have to follow a higher court’s decision.
b. Persuasive: You don’t have to follow, you have a choice.
4. Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII): www.austlii.edu.au. GOOD REFERENCE!
5. Order of laws:
a. Legislation/Acts
i. If a word is not defined in the Dictionary, we have to find where it has been
interpreted -> Common Law: where a judge has interpreted the word previously.
b. Statute Law
c. Civil Common Law
6. Common Law vs Statute Law
7. Regulators/enforcers of the Corporations Act: Australian Securities Investment Commission
(ASIC). They issue guidelines to help you.
8. Examples:
a. Corporations Act 2001 (Commonwealth)
b. Payroll Tax Act 1953 (VIC)
c. Abbreviate the legislations; eg a becomes “CA”, and b becomes “PTA”
d. In case of same abbreviation, you can easily differentiate them as “ITAA 36” and “ITAA
97” (Income Tax Assessment Act)
9. Law making process:
a. Proposal -> Bill -> House of Representative (green seat = house of rep., red seat = senate)
-> Senate -> Governor-General of Australia
b. The Constitution defines the conditions to create a legislation. One of the conditions is
that any law must be
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