2. Give a Brief Overview of the Australian Legal System

The composition of the House also determines who will form the official opposition. The party (or coalition of parties) with the most non-governmental members in the House of Representatives becomes the opposition party and its leader becomes the leader of the opposition. The opposition has the officially recognized function, established by convention, of opposing the government. Opposition is an integral part of Australia`s democratic system of government. This topic is discussed in more detail in Fact Sheet No. 19 House, Government and Opposition. The language used by the legal system is almost a language in itself. In fact, it would be more accurate to say this in several languages, because there are different areas of law, each with its own terminology. The two main areas of law are, for example, civil law and criminal law. In civil law, there are other areas, such as: Business Law, Personal Injury Law, Labor Law, etc. Each area of law has developed its own terminology, although there are also terms that are widely used throughout the legal system.

The ANU Library provides access to a number of legal databases. The following list is very selective and covers only the main sources of case law and legislation. A more complete list of legal databases can be found here or in the Business, Journal Articles and Legislation tabs for other databases covering this type of information. 1. There are certain situations in which state and territory governments agree to return certain powers to the Commonwealth, such as: the transfer of certain powers by Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia to the Commonwealth to allow for the passage of the Water Amendment Act 2008, which amended the Water Act 2007 and created a single body to oversee water resources planning in the basin. Murray-Darling. The Australian legal system is a combination of laws inherited from the United Kingdom, known as English common law, and the many laws enacted by the various states and federal governments since the Federation. Jurisprudence, that is, the laws interpreted by judges, changes over time as society changes and different interpretations are made in light of those changes.

The Australian colonies were merged into the Commonwealth in 1901. To do this, the British Parliament adopted a written constitution drafted by the Australian colonists. The document was influenced by the constitutional systems of the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland. [18] [19] The Australian common law system has its origins in the common law system in the United Kingdom. Although similarities remain and the influence of British common law decisions on Australian courts remains influential; There are considerable differences between the different systems. [33] Each legal system is unique and the Australian legal system is no exception. It is a combination of English common law and an American-style constitutional framework developed because of Australia`s federal character. As in most countries, new laws are debated and enacted by the legislature, which in Australia are the state, territorial and federation parliaments. The executive, that is, the civil service, oversees the application of the new laws. The judiciary is the arm of the executive that interprets laws and determines whether someone has broken a law and what sanctions should be imposed. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed by the Federation of Independent Colonies (which later became states).

For this reason, we refer to the creation of the Commonwealth as a “federation” and our system of government in Australia as a “federal” system. In a federal system of government, power is shared between the federal government and the governments of the states or territories. This means that since the Federation, all Australians are subject to the laws of two legal systems: federal laws and the laws of the state or territory in which they live. Neither the Prime Minister nor the Cabinet is mentioned in the Constitution – the authors of the Constitution took its existence for granted, as did the various conventions of the Westminster system of government inherited from the United Kingdom. With parliamentary government, legislative and executive functions overlap, since the members of the executive government – ministers – come from parliament. However, in the Australian system, there are still checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches – ministers are under the control of other members of parliament led by an officially recognised opposition. Moreover, the executive does not necessarily control both houses of parliament (see below). By 1824, the Acts of the British Parliament had created a judicial system based essentially on the English model. [13] The New South Wales Act of 1823 provided for the creation of a Supreme Court with the power to deal with all criminal and civil matters “as fully and completely as the Court of King`s Bench, the Common Pleas and Her Majesty`s Exchequer at Westminster.” [13] Subordinate courts have also been established, including courts for general or quarterly sessions and courts for motions.