The University of New South Wales

go to UNSW home page

Handbook Home

PRINT THIS PAGE
Aus Bills of Rights and the Protection of Human Rt - LAWS3047
Walkway view

 
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:
 
 
Prerequisite: LAWS1001 and LAWS1011 and Corequisite: LAWS2311; Prerequisite: JURD7101 and JURD7111 and Corequisite: JURD7211
 
 
Excluded: JURD7347
 
 
Fee Band: 3 (more info)
 
 
Further Information: See Class Timetable
 
 

Description

This course will explore the debates about the desirability of constitutional and other models of bills of rights. It will explore the reluctance in Australia to enact formal bills of rights, and examine the development and operation of the modern statutory "charters" of rights adopted by the ACT and Victoria, as well as the proposals for similar legislation at the State/Territory and federal levels. It will examine the impact of the human rights legislation in the ACT and Victoria on the policy-making, government decision-making, legislative processes, and the work of the courts. It will also follow the proposed national consultation on a charter of rights and other human rights protections. This course will involve consideration of selected areas of substantive law, and reference to developments in other comparable jurisdictions.

Recommended Prior Knowledge

Students will be expected to have taken Public Law or an equivalent course.

Mode of Delivery

Semester-length course, 4 hours per week (two 2-hour sessions)

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants should:
  • Understand fundamental concepts of human rights, different categories of rights, and international obligations in relation to domestic implementation of human rights treaty obligations
  • Understand the various approaches to protection of human rights without a bill of rights
  • Understand the various models of bills of rights in operation in comparable jurisdictions
  • Understand the history of debates about bills of rights in Australia, and the broader theoretical debates about the desirability, in particular their impact on the functioning of democratic institutions
  • Understand the origins, structure, content and impact of the ACT Human Rights Act 2004 – and the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities
  • Understand the current debates about and prospects of federal charter of rights and possible similar developments at the State and Territory level.

Main Topics

  • Human rights – their origin, meaning and content, and competing models of the protection of human dignity, relationships and social participation
  • International obligations relating to the implementation of human rights at the national level and the different categories of rights (civil and political; economic, social and cultural; and third generation rights)
  • The implementation and protection of human rights without a bill of rights
  • Models of bills of rights – judicially-enforceable and other models, constitutionally-entrenched and statutory bills of rights
  • The theoretical debates – democracy, majoritarianism, the separation of powers and judicial competence
  • Debates about Bills of Rights in Australia and the development of modern Australian charters of rights – a historical perspective
  • The UK model and bills of rights based on "dialogue"
  • The ACT Human Rights Act 2004
  • The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities: origins, structure, content and impact
  • The prospects for a federal Charter of Rights and future developments at the State and Territory level – the national consultation
  • Bills of rights and building a "culture" of human rights protection.

Assessment

1. Class participation (10%)

2. Short paper due at the end of Week 6 (1,500 - 2,000 words) (30%)

3. Either

(a) Final in-class examination (60%); or

(b) Research paper (4,000 - 4,500 words) (60%) on topic approved by the course convener.

Course Texts

Prescribed Texts

Xeroxed reading materials will be available for purchase from the UNSW Bookshop

Recommended Texts

G Williams, A Charter of Rights for Australia (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2007)

C Evans and S Evans, Australian Bills of Rights – The Law of the Victorian Charter and the ACT Human Rights Act (Chatswood, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2008)

H Charlesworth, Writing in Rights (Sydney, UNSW Press 2002)

A Pound and K Evans, An Annotated Guide to the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities (Sydney, Thomson LawBookCo, 2008)

A Byrnes, H Charlesworth, & G McKinnon, Bills of Rights in Australia: history, politics and law (UNSW Press, 2009)

Resources
Please refer to the course outline which will be available approximately four weeks before the start of the course.

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.