Unit 3 Legal StudiesLaw Making

AOS 1 – Parliament and the Citizen

Parliament and the citizen

What you need to know: The principles of the Australian parliamentary system: representative government,

responsible government, the principle of separation of power, the structure of State and Commonwealth Parliaments and the roles played by the Crown and the Houses of Parliament;

The legislative process outlining the progress of a bill through Parliament; Reasons laws may need to change, using examples to illustrate; The role played by a formal law reform body in assessing the need for change; for

example, the role of:– Australian Law Reform Commission– a parliamentary committee– Victorian Law Reform Commission– a government inquiry– a Royal Commission;

The means by which individuals and groups participate in influencing change in the law;

The strengths and weaknesses of law-making through Parliament.

Parliament and the citizen

How you have to be able to do it: Define key legal concepts and use them appropriately; Compare aspects of legal theory to current practices; Discuss, interpret and analyse legal information and data; Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of relevant legal

processes and procedures; Gather relevant data in relation to selected legal issues in

Australia using a range of sources, including print and electronic materials to acquire legal information.

The principles of the Australian Parliamentary system

In summary these are:

Representative government

Responsible government

Separation of Powers

State and Commonwealth

Roles of the Crown and Houses of Parliament

The Australian Parliamentary system

To put this into perspective we need to look at the historical context of how our current system came to be.

We also need to look at rules and laws and why they are in place and how they are classified

Rules and Laws

A non legal rule are rules based upon community norms. Eg: Don’t punch opposition playing footy

Legal Rules are created by institutions within the legal system and enforced by the legal system. These are known as laws. Eg: If you punch someone on the street it will incur a serious consequence and police action.

1. Why are laws needed? Give 3 reasons with an explanation for each.

A legal system

This basically the total of law-making in parliament, law enforcement by police, and law interpretation by the judiciary.

This is further broken down into types of laws. Essentially the laws are:

- The individual against the State

- The individual against other individuals

2. Provide examples of the two above.

3. Define civil and criminal law with examples, how do they fit in to the above categories?

Who makes laws

Statute law is made by Parliament Common law is made by the courts

This will be discussed further later on.

History of Parliament and law makingWe go waaaay back …In 1215 King John signed the Magna Carta which stated that

no-law maker is above the law, and that everyone would get a trial before imprisonment.

By the 1400’s there were 2 house of parliament passing statutes, and by the 1600’s the Parliament was the main law-making body in England.

This gave way to the creation of the Westminster model.4. Define the Westminster model5. Why would King John and those who succeeded him

agree to give up powers?

More history (closer to home)

When Australia was moving towards nationhood, it looked outside of Australia for models of systems of government and lawmaking.

The British and US systems both had an influence on the way our political and legal systems were to be based.

Australia adopted the basic structure of the British parliamentary system. This system is referred to as the Westminster system.

All Australian parliaments (except Queensland) are bi cameral. That is they have 2 Houses. To describe accurately the parliament consists of 2 houses plus the Crown

Prior to Australia federating in 1901, Australia was a collection of British colonies. From the 1850’s onwards the British parliament granted the colonies self government. Each colony had its own colonial constitution and parliament (based on the British Westminster model) with limited law making powers.

Parliamentary Structure (Page 25-32)

6. Draw a diagram of the parliamentary structure.

On looking at model for the political system, the founders of Australian nationhood looked to the US system which was federal in structure and governed by a constitution.

A federal system has different levels of government. A national or central authority to look after matters of national concern with various state governments that retained power to govern their own territories

A federal system is designed to SHARE power between the different levels of government. (Page 21 Text)

Some powers are set aside for the national government. Other powers are reserved for the states.

Australia federated through the British parliament passing the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (1900) (UK) (Note federated, federal system, federation)

The Commonwealth Constitution sets out the operation and structure of our federal system establishes a federal government and the Commonwealth

parliament establishes how the federal partners share law making powers establishes a means by which the constitution can be changed establishes the High Court of Australia established Australian states (formerly colonies). These states

have their own parliaments with law making powers (P 20 Text)7. Describe in your own words what chapter 1-5 of the constitution do.

Structure of State and Federal Parliament The Commonwealth Parliament is made up of 3 bodies:1. The Governor General (representing the crown)2. The House of Representatives (150 members

representing population)3. The Senate (76 members representing the states)8. List and explain the main roles for each house of

Parliament and the Crown.9. What are the roles of executive government and council?10. Create a brief summary of the Victorian Parliament

including the Houses, the Crown, the cabinet, and cabinet conventions.

Representative Government

This is the idea that the government is based on democracy. The government must represent the views of the people otherwise they will be voted out.

11. Give examples of what the Howard government may have done (or not done) to not meet the criteria of a representative Government.

Responsible Government

Government must be accountable to parliament, and therefore the people, for its actions.

12. Give examples of what the Howard (or Bush) government may have done (or not done) to not meet the criteria of a responsible Government.

13. Distinguish between responsible and representative.