Questions
- ‘In modern society almost all aspects of life are subject to legal control’.
How does your textbook express this common claim, and what kind of examples does it give?
[2 marks, one for the answer and one for accurate citation]
- ‘Captain Cook was a maverick; he was not acting within any known legal framework when he made the claim to acquire land in Australia for Britain on the basis that the continent was uninhabited.’ What kind of legal framework could the author of this statement have in mind?
[2 marks, one for the answer and one for accurate citation]
- You are chosen to represent your discipline in a first year university speed debating contest. The topic for your round in the debate is stated as follows:
The convicts from Britain who were transported to Australia in the First Fleet were indistinguishable from slaves who might have been transported from British colonies in the Caribbean.
At this point you do not know whether you are to argue the affirmative (supporting the statement) or take the side of the negative (denying the statement), so you are free to choose either one; but just one.
Assemble brief information from the set readings to support the position you have chosen, but as a first step in constructing your answer, explain precisely what meaning you are giving to the phrase: were indistinguishable from.
[For this question there are two parts, the first part (a) is on meaning and requires no citations; the second part (b) is your assemblage of the grounds for support or rejection of the statement, and here citations are required. Each part is worth 2 marks, so 4 in total.]
- ‘Courts in South Australia, and indeed in all other Australian jurisdictions, are fully autonomous; that means that each court has an independent status, and owes no deference to any other court.’
Do you agree with this statement? Make sure to carefully support your answer with an example, explaining what ‘deference’ means in the legal context.
[2 marks, one for the answer and one for accurate citation]
- ‘The common law has an ancestral line that extends far, far back in time; statutes, on the other hand, are fairly modern creations. It follows that given its much longer history the common law will always override what is found in statutes.’
Do you agree with the conclusion stated here about the overriding authority of the common law?
[2 marks, one for the answer and one for accurate citation]
- ‘In Australia, a professional board created under a regulatory system will deal with a complaint against you. That board, unlike courts in general, will work with the presumption of guilt.’
Is the second statement true or false? Support your answer with a citation.
[2 marks, one for the answer and one for accurate citation]
- ‘The law is a no-nonsense and sometimes brutal process, there is no place within it for fuzzy, feel-good notions like natural justice’.
Do you agree with this statement? Support your answer.
[2 marks, one for the answer and one for accurate citation]
- (1) What is the founding document for the Commonwealth of Australia, and (2) in which country and by what parliament was it created as law?
[2 marks, one for each answer if accompanied by an accurate citation]
- ‘While it is true that our parliaments create legislation, and our judges apply that law in courts, there is often scope provided in legislation for named individuals to create regulations that have binding power over citizens.’
To what, and to whom, is the speaker here referring?
[2 marks, one for the answer and one for accurate citation]
Sample Solution