The The Australian Australian

Legal System Legal System and the and the

Common Law Common Law ‘Downunder’‘Downunder’

SEMINAR 1SEMINAR 1

• Five 1.5 hour seminars on the Australian legal system and the common law “downunder”

• The sources, the characteristics and some of the controversies of the Australian legal system

• Seminars 1-4Brendan Grigg, Senior Lecturer, Flinders Law School, Flinders University of South Australia (link).

• Seminar 5Dr Laura Grenfell, Senior Lecturer, Adelaide Law School, University of Adelaide (link).

Un benvenuto

Assessment and Resources:

• 1000-word essay, due 31 October 2014

• Website (thanks to Prof Raffaele Torino)– http://scienzepolitiche.uniroma3.it/rtorino/?

page_id=135

– articles, chapters

• Three textbooks (available from me till 17 October, then Prof Torino/Library)

• Flinders University of South Australia http://www.flinders.edu.au/

• Adelaide, South Australia • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQSTmaMVewg• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l29O5A1OcD8

Where I am from:

Where are you from?

What does the What does the term common law mean?term common law mean?

1066: The Norman Invasion of England

• Shires• rural shires divided into hundreds• urban shires divided into burroughs

 • Shire reeve or

sheriff • Trial by ordeal

Before 1066

• CURIA REGIS

• JUSTICES IN EYRE

• JUSTICES IN ASSIZE

• THREE COURTS AT WESTMINSTER (London):

• Court of the Exchequer

• Court of Common Pleas

• Court of King’s Bench

After 1066

The system of writs• A letter

• commencing legal proceedings• specifying the nature of the complaint• demanding certain action from the defendant

• Purchased from The Chancery• Lord Chancellor

• Formal precedent document

• The Provisions of Oxford 1258• Statute of Westminster 1285

• ‘Sclerosis of the common law’

The Westminster system of Parliamentary democracy

The statute

The doctrine of precedent (stare decisis)

The jurisdiction of The Court of Chancery (Equity)

Parliamentary democracyParliamentary democracyand the rise of the statuteand the rise of the statute

QUESTION:

The principal architect of Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra was an Italian.

True or False?

ANSWER: TRUE!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romaldo_Giurgola

• Magna Carta 1215• http://www.magnacarta.senate.gov.au/

• 1265 Simon De Montfort’s Parliament

• 1295 Model Parliament King Edward I

• Henry VIII• James I 1603 -1625 (James VI of Scotland)• Charles I 1625 - 1649• The Commonwealth Period

under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell• Charles II 29 May 1660 - 1685• James II 61685-88

• Glorious Revolution of 1688

• William and Mary

• Bill of Rights 1689• Act of Settlement 1701  

• Rule of Law• Separation of Powers

Important cases:

• Case of Prohibitions del Roy – (1607)12 Co Rep 63

• Case of Proclamations – (1611) 12 Co Rep 74

• Dr Bonham’s Case – (1610) 8 Co Rep 107a– Judicial review of Parliament: Marbury v Madison

• Case of Ship Money – (1637) 3 How St Tr 825