12.5 1st year Roger Hawthorn. First semester Two 1-hour lectures and one 1-hour tutorial each week. On completion of this subject students should be able to:

• understand the origins and structure of the Australian legal system, the historical development of the common law, the impact of the reception of British law into Australia, analyse judicial precedents and demonstrate an awareness of how the law develops through cases and judicial decision-making using aboriginal land rights as an example;
• evaluate the significance of the personal values, gender and socio-economic background of judges in the law-making process;
• understand the institutional structure of Australian government and the significance of the Constitution and the High Court within that structure;
• identify the ways in which individual human rights may be protected by constitutional law and through international treaties.

The origins and structure of the Australian legal system. The Australian Constitution and the system of representative government. Law making by parliament and the courts. Gender, values and law-making by the judges. The role of the High Court. A comparison between the Australian and U. S. Constitutions. The protection of individual human rights by constitutional and international law. Written work 2,000 words (50%) and a 2-hour final examination (50%). Morris G, Cook C, Creyke R & Geddes R, Laying Down the Law 3rd edition, 1992 Butterworths, Printed materials available from the Law School