Course

Judging and the Judiciary - JURD7447

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: 36 UOC of JURD courses for students enrolled prior to 2013. For students enrolled after 2013, pre-requisite: 72 UOC of JURD courses.

Excluded: LAWS8147

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course looks at the institutional and individual role of the judge in the justice sytem. The aim of the course is to examine the constitutional position of the judiciary, the role of the judge in securing access to justice for the Australian public, including the important development of case management, the process of hearing and deciding cases and judicial accountability.

Main Topics

The course aims to discuss and critique the following topics:
  • Role of the judge in the justice system
  • Constraints on the exercise of judicial power
  • Judicial ethics
  • Access to justice and case management
  • Fact finding
  • Judgment writing
  • Judicial appointments
  • The judiciary and the media

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to:
  • Understand the Constitional position of and constraints on the judiciary
  • Appreciate the role of the judge in ensuring due process, access to justice and the minimisation of cost and delay.
  • Understand the judicial skillset necessary for fact finding and judgment writing.
  • Examine and critique forms of judicial accountabililty such as methods of appointment, the provision of reasons, appeal, open justice and reporting by the media.

Assessment

  1. Reflective Journal - 20%
  2. Research Essay - 70%
  3. Class Participation - 10%

Course Texts

There are no prescribed or recommended texts for this course.
Quadrangle Sundial

Study Levels

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