UNIT 2 LAW & GOVERNANCE

Year 10 People & Society

LEGAL AND NON-LEGAL RULES

Made by private individuals or groups, e.g. parents, schools

Cannot be enforced by the courts

Non-legal rules

Made by law-making bodies with the force of law, e.g. parliament, local councils

Can be enforced by the courts

Legal rules

Rules tell us what we can and cannot do

NEED FOR LAWS

Main aim of the law is to protect our society and keep it functioning

The law aims to protect individual rights

Stop behaviour that will affect peace and the good order of society

Without laws our society would be in chaos

Laws are needed to provide guidelines of acceptable behaviour and

prevent conflict

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LAW

Must be known to the public

Acceptable to the community

Able to be enforced

Stable

Able to be changed

TYPES OF LAW

Australian laws are classified into categories according to the

types of actions that have taken place and the outcome

required when the law has been broken.

Criminal Civil

DISTINCTION BETWEEN CIVIL & CRIMINAL LAW

Civil Law Criminal Law

Protects individual rights

Relates to disputes between

two parties (civil actions)

The main aim of civil law is to

return the person whose rights

have been infringed to their

original position

E.g. family law or tort law

Protects entire community by

keeping the peace

Relates to acts or omissions

against society

The main aims are to

apprehend, prosecute and

punish people who have broken

the law and to deter others from

breaking the law

E.g. murder or theft

HISTORY OF OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM

• Pre 20th Century Australia

was six separate British

colonies

• The founding fathers

proposed federation

• The Commonwealth of

Australia Constitution Act (UK)

1900 was passed

AUSTRALIA'S SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

• Constitutional monarchy -

parliaments operate under a set of

rules outlined in their constitutions

• A constitution is a legal document

that outlines the basic rules of

government and the law making

powers of the parliament

• The Queen of England is our Head

of State

SOURCES OF LAW

DIVISIONS OF LAW-MAKING POWER

• Commonwealth Parliament has exclusive powers and some shared

powers with state government (concurrent powers). In areas of shared

powers, Commonwealth law prevails

• Parliament made law is known as acts of parliament, legislation and/or

statute law

• Can delegate some power to other bodies known as subordinate

authorities (e.g. local councils). These laws are known as delegated

legislation

• Courts can make law through the ruling in a case before them. This is

known as precedent and is followed by similar court cases in future

instances, however parliament can override precedent.

THREE LEVELS OF LAW-MAKING

BODIES

STRUCTURE OF PARLIAMENT

Commonwealth

ParliamentVictorian Parliament

Head of State

Queen's RepresentativeGovernor-general Governor

Upper house Senate Legislative Council

Lower houseHouse of

Representatives Legislative Assembly

Role of Commonwealth Parliament

Senate House of

Representatives

150 seats

Elected for a 3 year period

Review bills passed by the

Senate

Form the government

Represent the people

Introduce and pass laws

76 senators (equal

representation of each state

and territories)

Elected for 6 years

Review bills passed by the

House of Representatives

House of review

States' house

Role of the Victorian Parliament

Legislative Council Legislative

Assembly

88 members

Fixed 4 year term

Introduce and pass bills

Form government

4o members

4 year term

Introduce bills

Review bills passed by

Legislative Assembly

Can reject or amend bills on

review

CRIMINAL LAW

Used to clarify the types of

behaviourdeemed

criminal by society.

Outlines appropriate

punishments

Aims to protect

society, deter and punish offenders

Chewing gum is

against the law in

Singapore

What is a

crime?

An act or omission that

is against an existing

law, harmful to an

individual or society as

a whole and punishable

by law

ELEMENTS OF A CRIME

Actus Reus

A guilty act

Mens ReaA guilty mind

TYPES OF CRIMES

• Minor criminal offences

• Heard in the Magistrate’s Court

Summary offences

• More serious offences

• Heard in the County or Supreme Court

Indictable offences

PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY

Burden of Proof

Standard of Proof

Presumption of innocence

Age of Criminal

Responsibility

CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON

Homicide ~ The killing of a person

Two examples of unlawful homicides include:

Murder

Manslaughter

MURDER

Murder is the unlawful killing of another person

with malice aforethought, by a person who is of

age of discretion (10 years old or over) and of

sound mind

Max penalty life imprisonment

MANSLAUGHTER

Manslaughter applies in situations

where death occurs as a result of

criminal negligence or an unlawful

and dangerous act

Criminal Negligence the accused must

owe a duty of care (e.g. a parent has a

duty of care to feed his/her infant)

Unlawful and dangerous act if someone

is killed during a action that is against the

law (e.g. bank robbery)

Max penalty 20 years imprisonment

CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY

Theft

• Dishonestly taking a person’s property

• Max penalty 10 years imprisonment

Robbery

• Using force during the act of stealing

• Max penalty 15 years imprisonment

Burglary

• Entering a building to steal

• Committing assault as trespasser

• Damaging building as trespasser

• Max penalty 25 years imprisonment

CRIMINAL SANCTIONS

Aims

Punish

Denunciate

RehabilitateDeter

Protect

CRIMINAL SANCTIONS: TYPES

IMPRISONMENT

FINE

COMMUNITY CORRECTION ORDER (CCO)

IMPRISONMENT

Imprisonment is the

detaining of an offender in

jail for a period of time

determined on a level

system

Last resort sanction

Aims: punish, protect, deter,

denunciate & may

rehabilitate

FINE

A fine is a monetary penalty

paid by the offender to the

court and expressed as

penalty units in 2011-12 a

penalty unit was equal to

$122.14

Aims of fines: punish & deter

and at times can denunciate

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS ORDER (CCO)

CCO is a supervised sentence

served in the community which

includes special conditions

such as treatment and unpaid

community work for a specified

number of hours

Aims of CCO: punish, deter,

protect & rehabilitate

PROTECTION OF RIGHTS

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