Coordinator:  Associate Professor Simon Evans    Telephone:  83444751    Office:   Room 0901    Email:   Click here to email Simon Evans

 

Prerequisites and/or Corequisites

Prerequisites: Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Legal Method and Reasoning, Legal Theory, Principles of Public Law, Torts or equivalent subjects

Generic Skills

Description

This subject is about some of the fundamental questions of Australian constitutional law that the High Court has been grappling with in recent years: How do the elements of the Commonwealth fit together to form the Australian nation? And what rights do people in Australia have? These topics have been chosen to enable students to focus on the most relevant, current and challenging aspects of Australian constitutional law. They offer students the chance to deepen and broaden their understanding of Australian constitutional law beyond the core topics covered in Constitutional & Administrative Law. The subject will also include guest lectures from constitutional practitioners and/or judges. It will develop students’ practical skills in preparing written advice in constitutional matters, presenting oral argument in constitutional matters and writing outlines of argument in constitutional matters. The principal topics covered will include:

• The constitutional relationship between the States, Territories and the Commonwealth
  • the states
  • the territories
  • the common law and the Constitution
  • extraterritoriality and conflicts of laws within Australia
  • intergovernmental immunities
  • intergovernmental cooperation
  • discrimination and equal treatment
  
• The constitutional relationship between governments and people
  • discrimination and equal treatment
  • popular sovereignty
  • citizenship
  • implied political rights
  • express rights
  • due process and the rule of law

Points: 12.5

Mode of delivery: Seminars and/or Lectures

Contact hours: 5 hours per fortnight

Estimated Total Time Commitment: 144 Hours