166-215 Rights and the Law

Usually 25 points of first year arts including 191-110 Law in Society.

This subject examines those entitlements in democratic Australia to which we attach special importance, and which we label rights. The subject asks students to explore the limited way in which rights have traditionally been protected by Australian law, and to consider how this has changed in the past fifty years, with the rising influence of international human rights law on Australian courts and parliaments, and with the broader reading of Australia's Constitution by the High Court. The subject engages with a number of current debates in Australia (including those concerning euthanasia, artificial reproductive technology, and indigenous rights), and will enable students to respond in detail to two key questions: What constitutes a right in contemporary Australia? How should rights best be protected?

Writen work totalling 4000 words.

A subject reader will be available.