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Advanced Administrative Law: Adapting to Regulatory Change - LAWS3282
 Basser Steps

 
Faculty: Faculty of Law
 
 
School:  Faculty of Law
 
 
Course Outline: See below
 
 
Campus: Kensington Campus
 
 
Career: Undergraduate
 
 
Units of Credit: 6
 
 
EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
 
 
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 4
 
 
Enrolment Requirements:
 
 
Pre-requisite: LAWS1160; JURD7160
 
 
Excluded: JURD7382
 
 
Fee Band: 3 (more info)
 
 
Further Information: See Class Timetable
 
  

Description

The course offers a broad range of topics, spanning state liability in tort and the impact of the Civil Liability Act, the Commonwealth's non-statutory compensation schemes for defective administration, judicial review, immigration and human rights, contracting with government and public entities and public procurement, and public and private ombudsmen.


Recommended Prior Knowledge

The prerequisite for this Course is Administrative Law (LAWS2160). Its topics and concerns align most closely with constitutional law and immigration law, but there are also frequent intersections with other Law School Courses (dealing with Bills of Rights, contracts and torts).

Course Objectives

  • Studying new forms of regulation and government service delivery
  • Debating the continued viability of distinctions between public and private law
  • Devising imaginative responses to regulatory change
  • Group discussions and development of viable and interesting essay topics for each student
  • Short presentations of student work-in-progress on essays

Main Topics

  • An evaluation of the processes of globalisation and the extent of cross-fertilisation, and an assessment of their possible impact on domestic Australian administrative law. Specific topics include the emergence of common values and procedures, and the extent to which these might affect judicial supervsision of the "quality" of administrative decision-making
  • The centrality of "government" for public law, and the question of whether it remains an organising principle in light of the state's increasing use of private sector bodies for governmental purposes. Specific topics include judicial review of private sector bodies, tort liability of public bodies and the impact of the tort reform legislation
  • A comparison of the intensity of judicial scrutiny which the judicial review grounds allow, depending on whether the alleged error is one of fact or law
  • The special administrative law problems generated by anti-terrorism legislation, and by immigration detention
  • The changing roles of government and industry ombudsmen
  • The emergence of new judicial review grounds in the UK and Australia, and the influence of Human Rights legislation
  • Inquisitorial and investigative tribunals in Australia
  • Contracting with the Crown and Crown contractors
  • Commonwealth and State legislative limitations of access to judicial review, and of the grounds of judicial review
  • The Commonwealth's Scheme for Compensation for Detriment caused by Defective Administration

Assessment

Class participation Preparation and engagement in class 20%
Research essay 4,500 - 5,000 words 80%
 

Course Texts

Prescribed
This will be produced by the Law School and will be sold from the UNSW Bookshop.

Recommended

  • Aronson, Dyer and Groves, Judicial Review of Administrative Action (Thomson Lawbook, Sydney, 3rd ed, 2004)
  • Lane and Young, Administrative Law in Australia (Thomson Lawbook, Sydney, 2007)
  • Clark, Principles of Australian Public Law (LexisNexis Butterworths, Sydney, 2nd ed, 2007)

Resources

WebCt will host additional materials, and provide links to helpful websites or specific materials. The Law Library is also a basic research resource.

URL for this page:

© The University of New South Wales (CRICOS Provider No.: 00098G), 2004-2011. The information contained in this Handbook is indicative only. While every effort is made to keep this information up-to-date, the University reserves the right to discontinue or vary arrangements, programs and courses at any time without notice and at its discretion. While the University will try to avoid or minimise any inconvenience, changes may also be made to programs, courses and staff after enrolment. The University may also set limits on the number of students in a course.