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Offered By
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Law School
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Academic Career
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Graduate Coursework
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Course Subject
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Laws
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Offered in
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Summer Session, 2013, Winter Session, 2013, Summer Session, 2014, and Winter Session, 2014
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Unit Value
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6 units
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Course Description
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This course is designed for students enrolling in the postgraduate program who do not have an LLB. Lawyers are not permitted to take this course. However, students with an overseas law qualification may be required or permitted to take this course. The course provides an introduction to the main features of the Australian legal system in the areas of constitutional, administrative and commercial law. It is the foundation course for non-lawyers enrolling in the postgraduate program in government and commercial law and a prerequisite for many of the courses in the Government and Commercial law stream. The subject matter of this course centres on those parts of constitutional, administrative and commercial law that are essential for equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills to tackle more specialised subjects in these areas.
Special emphasis is also placed on developing students' capacity to apply basic legal principles in problem solving settings. In this context, the course integrates an understanding of legal principles and legal methods and includes an introduction to the library (electronic resources, research techniques, borrowing arrangements, librarians, etc), legal writing (including style, referencing etc), and legal problem solving (drawing on case discussions and research). It also covers the basic features of the common law system, the nature and role of precedent and legislation and interpretive rules.
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Learning Outcomes
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A student who has successfully completed this course should be able to:
- demonstrate a broad understanding of the Australian legal system
- understand the central concepts in constitutional, administrative and commercial law including:
- the federal division of powers, the role of the High Court, the nature and limitations upon Commonwealth legislative powers, grounds for constitutional invalidity, the structure of the executive and the nature of judicial power,
- a brief history of administrative law system, accountability in an administrative state, the framework for administrative law review of government decision-making, methods of administrative review and the role of subordinate legislation
- the main forms of business entities and an introduction to contract law including formation of contract, contractual terms and termination and breach of contract
- demonstrate understanding of the role of law and modes of legal thinking
- understand the central elements of legal reasoning
- be competent to access and use legal materials
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Indicative Assessment
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There will be three pieces of assessment in this course. The assessment will relate to each of the areas of Constitutional, Administrative and Commercial Law and may take the form of an essay, problem-style question or case analysis (each no more than 2000 words each).
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Workload
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The course will be taught in the Summer Session over 34 hours spread over a 6 week period. It will also expect private study time.
In the Winter Session the course will be taught over five full days.
Click here for current timetable
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Course Classification(s)
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Requisite Statement
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None
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Recommended Courses
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None
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Prescribed Texts
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Cook, Creyke, Geddes, Hamer, Laying Down the Law, LexisNexis, (8th ed) 2012.
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Technology Requirements
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Internet access
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Programs
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Graduate Diploma in Government and Commercial Law and Master of Government and Commercial Law
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Academic Contact
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Jim Davis, Louise Parrott, Leighton McDonald, and Graduate Administrator
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