Commerce

• Law


  A set of rules that are officially recognised by the state
• Features of fair and effective laws

  • Just - to ensure no one is favoured or disadvantaged
  • Enforceable - by some type of punishment
  • Acceptable to the community
• Morality


  A sense of "good and evil"
• Ethics


  Evaluates what is right and wrong
• Laws often change to reflect the changing standards of morality and ethics within a community
• Utilitarianism


  Law which "brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people"
• Factors influencing society's morality and ethics

  • Religion
  • Economics
  • Society
  • Politics
• Legal capacity


  A person's ability to act within the bounds of the legal system
• Parliament


  • Main law-making institution
  • Can make new laws and change existing ones
  • Laws are binding on all courts and judges
  • All people are expected to obey these laws
• Police


  • Do not make the laws, they only enforce the laws that people must obey
  • Prevent and detect crime, protect life and property, and maintain peace and order
• Courts


  • Settle disputes according to strict rules of evidence and procedure
  • Court officials are responsible for the administration of the court and the efficient running of a case
  • Judges can create law through the decisions they make when hearing a case: an act of precedent
• Lawyers


  • Provide legal advice and assistance
  • Represent their clients and conduct their cases at court hearings
• Prisons


  • Hold people convicted of a crime
  • Prison staff manage the prison
  • All offenders must be given the opportunity of rehabilitation
• Court Structure


  • Local Court
  • District Court
  • Supreme Court
  • Coroner's Court
  • Children's Court
• Local Court


  • No jury, only a magistrate who hears the cases, decides the verdict and sets any punishment
  • Deals with minor criminal matters and civil matters
  • Hears 80% of all cases, both criminal and civil
• District Court


  • Cases are heard by judges
  • Deals with more serious civil cases and criminal offences
  • Hears appeals from the Local Court
  • If the accused is found guilty, the judge will decide on an appropriate sentence
• Supreme Court


  • Highest court in NSW
  • Deals with the most serious criminal cases and the most serious civil cases
  • A jury will decide if the accused is guilty or not
  • Deals with appeals from the two lower courts
• Coroner's Court


  • Investigates deaths by unnatural causes to determine the identity of the deceased and the date, place, circumstances and medical cause of death
  • Investigates the cause and origin of fires or explosions
• Children's Court


  • Deals with cases involving the care and protection of children and young people
  • Deals with criminal cases concerning children and young people who committed offences when under the age of 18
  • Court is closed to the public and the media
  • Personnel are specifically trained to deal with young people
• Local Government


  • Receives subsidies from the federal, state, and territory governments
  • Collects rates from all local property owners
  • Responsible for local road upkeep, trash collection, building codes, property subdivisions, parking, and recreational amenities
• State/Territory Government


  • Responsible for public housing, public transportation, health, education, and consumer affairs
  • Levies taxes and gets the majority of their funding from the federal government
• Federal Government


  • Levies taxes on incomes, commodities and services, and corporate profits
  • Responsible for foreign affairs, social security, labour relations, trade, immigration, currency, and defence
• Division of powers


  No one level of government can control all the laws and activities in the nation
• Australian Constitution


  • Sets the rules by which Australia is run
  • Describes the structure, role and powers of the Australian Parliament
  • Sets out how the Australian and state parliaments share the power to make laws
  • Details the roles of the executive government and the High Court of Australia, and some of the rights of Australian citizens
• Magistrates


  • Sit in the Local Court and are often responsible for presiding over a large number of cases on any single day
  • May hear applications for adjournment, decide penalties where a person pleads guilty or decide whether a person is guilty
• Juries


  • A group of people chosen to hear evidence in court and decide whether or not a person is guilty or innocent
  • Offer a variety of viewpoints and serve as a buffer against potential prejudices from judges or prosecutors
  • Represent a diverse range of social classes and can reflect societal attitudes and beliefs
• Common law


  • Law developed from judgments handed down in court in previous cases
  • Judges make decisions about new cases by following judgments made in earlier and similar cases
  • Precedents are recorded in books called Law Reports so that they can be referred to when needed
  • Judges have an important role in interpreting words or phrases in a law made by parliament
• Statute law


  • Laws made by Parliament and are also called Acts or legislation
  • Australia has a federal system of government with the Commonwealth Parliament and separate parliaments in each of the states and territories
  • Parliament can delegate some of its power to create laws to other bodies, such as local councils
  • Laws created by Parliament have the highest status and must be obeyed by all
• Types of law


  • Public law
  • Private law
  • Criminal law
  • Civil law
  • Domestic law
  • International law
  • Customary law
• Customary law


  The traditional law of indigenous peoples, generally oral, sometimes narrative or based on established performative practice
• Aboriginal customary law developed over time from accepted moral and social norms within Indigenous societies
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were subjected to a range of injustices, including mass killings or being displaced from their traditional lands and relocated to missions and reserves in the name of protection
• Eddie Mabo challenged the right of the Queensland Government to prohibit traditional practices such as hunting and fishing on the land his family lived on
• Indigenous Australians are relatively less likely to seek help from mainstream providers due to a distrust of the legal system, language barriers and their perceived lack of cultural awareness
• The justice system relies on people with disability identifying as such and there is evidence of underreporting by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people due to a range of factors including a cultural conflict between the Western concept of disability and the diverse approaches