LAWS1006 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: True Justice, Tertiary Education Fees In Australia, Social Order
1: Sources of Law and the Australian Legal System
The purpose of law:
o Social order – namely, control and direction:
• A need to organise our means in society
• A need to be circumscribed by law; circumscription by law
• Laws that back particular edicts1 and proscriptions (?)
o Justice:
• Finding a way that makes the law fair
• Allows for the capacity of welfare, HECS, etc. Essentially allows a degree of fairness by
lawmakers
• Prevents a regime where the strongest comes out on top – law quashes this possibility
o Dispute settlement:
• Penumbra of law
• Finding where your right comes from
• Creates a legal backing to actions
• The dispute settlement precedes court proceedings – if there is a preponderance of
evidence on your side, then there is a dispute resolution
o Economics:
• For instance, the Federal Budget is a legal budget, in which all budgets are backed by
legislation
• Commercial transactions are all backed by law
• Commerce, and the certainty of commerce is what law seeks to do
• Relates back to social order and direction
o Process:
• Limits power
• The law processes creates predictability and fairness
• Those in powerful positions (could be powerful in terms of physicality, wealth) are
subject to the same legal systems. This is an essential feature of the rule of law2 where
there is the control of those in the position of power
o Truth or politics?
• Law is not the truth
• Fundamentally a political instrument
• Politics change as societies change, hence changing laws
The uncertainties of law:
o Application of legislation to transactions or incidents is rarely mechanical, and instead, often
invites interpretation and judgement
o Resolutions to conflicts could conversely bring disputes into two previously accepted
principles
o Basically, an individuals idea of justice is clouded by their own moral perceptions and values,
shaped inherently by their social ethos – It is subjective
o Yet law and those that administer law, AIM to be objective – to reach the right resolution to a
dispute given the legal principles applicable to the case Laying Down the Law). Yet difficult
cases result in different conclusions made by various lawyers or judges
o )f an objective answer with law does not exist, how can true justice exist?
Sources of law in the Anglo-Australian tradition:
1 Edict: an official order or proclamation ordered by a person of authority
2 Rule of law: The principle that every person and organization, including the government, is subject to the same
laws
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Document Summary
1: sources of law and the australian legal system. The purpose of law: social order namely, control and direction, a need to organise our means in society, a need to be circumscribed by law; circumscription by law, laws that back particular edicts1 and proscriptions (?) Justice: dispute settlement: lawmakers, finding a way that makes the law fair, allows for the capacity of welfare, hecs, etc. 1 edict: an official order or proclamation ordered by a person of authority. 2 rule of law: the principle that every person and organization, including the government, is subject to the same laws. Common law created the basis for many modern legal systems generally been replaced by the orders and judgements and in some jurisdictions supplemented. In general terms, countries under civil law have their laws placed in comprehensive. The differences between common law and civil law.