Legal Notes
Uploaded by joeydaprof on Jun 12, 2006
Legal Studies
Basic Legal Notions
Definitions:
• Anarchy- a state of society WITHOUT government or law (LAWLESNESS)
• Custom- a type of behaviour that has emerged OVERTIME & that is followed by a group by MUTUAL CONSENT. Traditions.
• Fairness- PROPER BEHAVIOUR (conduct) in the performance of an act or duty.
• Rules- controlling COMMANDS which have authority of a superior power. Guidelines.
• Equality- everybody being treated the SAME.
• Justice- a concept about what is RIGHT & WRONG and what is FAIR & UNFAIR.
• Values- principles or ATTITUDES which we see as important. Beliefs.
• Ethics- a set of MORAL BELIEFS governing behaviour.
• Tort- a CIVIL WRONG where one person unreasonably interferes with the rights of another.
• Duty- something a person is REQUIRED to do or stop doing.
• Right- something to which a person is ENTITLED.
• Public law- law affecting ENTIRE community about disputes between the state & private individuals; & law about law-making powers of governments.
• Civil law- laws are regulating the behaviour of individuals- form of private law.
• Common law- CASE LAW developed in common court case law or JUDGE-MADE law.
• Culture- knowledge & ways of THINKING & BEHAVING that give a group its distinctive way of life.
• Domestic law- the law of a country- applies within a nation/states’ borders.
• High court- the ultimate court of appeal.
• Burden of proof- responsibility of the party who must prove a case in court. In a civil case this party is the PLAINTIFF. In a criminal case it’s the PROSECUTION.
• Alternative dispute resolution- methods of resolving disputes which do not rely on the court system.
• Appellate jurisdiction- a court’s power to hear matters which have been heard before at a court lower in the judicial hierarchy but appealed to the court with the appellate jurisdiction.
• Constitutional convention- a meeting of people elected from across Australia to discuss matters of importance, such as the proposed constitutional changes necessary to become a republic in 1998.
• Convention- general agreement between nations; a meeting.
• Delegated legislation- the subordinate law made by non-parliamentary bodies such as local councils and statutory authorities such as Sydney Water.
• Doctrine of precedent- a group of rules that attempt to ensure consistency between consistency between judicial decisions by limiting the ability of a judge to be creative when a decisions by limiting the ability of a judge to be creative when a decision about a similar case has previously been made.
• Doctrine of reception- British legal theory which suggested that the application of British law by colonists would be different...