Foundations of Law has two parts, a graded Coursework component and a Research component that is assessed on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. The Coursework component of the course introduces students to the current structure, operation and historical origins of the Australian legal system, as well as to some of the key concepts in the law of torts (the law of civil wrongs). The Research component provides students with an introduction to the tools and methods of legal research.
Objectives
This course aims to provide students with:
An understanding of the principal legal institutions in Australia, including their history and the relationships between them;
Foundational legal research skills, a preliminary understanding of appropriate research strategies and an understanding of legal terminologies and the elements of good legal writing;
A capacity to analyse case law and interpret statutes, and to identify and apply legal principles;
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;
A contextual and critical approach to legal principles and institutions, rather than treating them as inevitable phenomena whose desirability cannot be questioned at any level;
A conception of 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, or the philosopher.
Main Topics
The historical origins of the Australian legal system;
An introduction to some of the significant theoretical ideas underpinning our legal system, including the importance of the concept of the rule of law;
The operation of the principal institutions of government under our constitutions - 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 and the processes by which cases are decided by judges;
The circumstances of the adoption of the common law in the Australian states and the effect on the indigenous population;
The nature of statutes and the techniques for interpreting them;
An introduction to the history and development of equity within the Australian legal system;
An investigation of some torts as an example of the legal system in action;
How to research primary materials such as case law and legislation;
