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Campus: Kensington Campus
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Career: Undergraduate
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Units of Credit: 6
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Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 5
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Enrolment Requirements:
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Currently enrolled in a program in the Faculty of Law.
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Description
In many other law schools Foundations of Law (or "Legal Method", "Introduction to Law", etc.) is taught as a first year subject more or less in isolation from substantive law. In this Law School, however, we try to give an immediate context of real "living" law in which you can approach the institutions and methods of the law. For this purpose this course introduces you to some of the law of torts, (the law of civil wrongs). Initially the course will introduce you to the historical background of the Australian legal system, and then consider other aspects of the legal system as it presently operates. Then we will concentrate on the Law of Torts. Much of your understanding of the legal system should come about by a process of gradual understanding as you progress further into the torts material, but you should not lose sight of the need to give conscious attention to the legal system aspects of the course and to spend a little time reading collaterally in the recommended books.
Recommended Prior Knowledge
None
Course Objectives
- To help you to conceive law as a social phenomenon which may usefully be investigated from the viewpoint of many kinds of investigator - not just the judge, the practising lawyer or the law reformer, but also the historian, the sociologist, the anthropologist, the political scientist, the economist, the philosopher, etc.
- To acquaint you with legal terminologies and styles
- To develop your skills in analysing and applying legal principles
- To stimulate you to adopt a critical approach in considering legal principles and institutions, rather than treating them as inevitable phenomena whose desirability cannot be questioned at any level
- To give you a feel for the "dynamic" of the law, that is, for the way that it has changed in the past, and will continue to change, in response both to social changes and to the continued operations of the legal system itself
Main Topics
- The historical roots of the Australian legal system
- The principal institutions of government under our constitution - viz, parliaments, the executive and the courts - and their relation to each other and to the people living under them
- The role of judges, practising lawyers and other personnel in the court system
- The nature of the common law
- The circumstances of the adoption of the common law in the Australian states and its effect on the indigenous population
- The processes by which cases are decided by judges and the techniques used by them (judicial method)
- The nature of statutes and the techniques for interpreting them
- An investigation of some torts as an example of the legal system in action
Assessment
Class participation (10%)
In-class test (30%)
Extended case-note (60%)
Course Texts
- Chisholm and Nettheim, Understanding Law, Butterworths, 6th ed., 2002; OR
- John Carvan, Understanding the Legal System, 4th ed., Federation Press, 2005; AND
- Carol Harlow, Understanding Tort Law, 3rd ed., Fontana, 2005
- Prue Vines, Law and Justice in Australia: foundations of the Australian Legal system, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2005
- Commonwealth of Australia Constitution, AGPS (or may be in the back of the legal dictionary)
- NSW Constitution (from NSW Govt bookshop or download from AUSTLII on web)
- Law School Materials (available from the UNSW bookshop)
Law Dictionary A law dictionary will be useful throughout your law course and beyond. It is therefore strongly recommended you buy one, such as: Butterworths Concise Australian Legal Dictionary, 3rd ed Lexis Nexis , 2004 Recommended
Refer to Course Outline for a list of recommended texts. |
