AREA OF STUDY 1 – LAW IN SOCIETY
 A Similarity between a legal rule
and a non-legal rule is:
 A. Both are enforced through the
courts
 B. Both apply to all individuals and
groups in society
 C. Both are made by a law-making
body
 D. Both have a consequence if
broken
 WHAT ARE THE 4 MAIN SOURCES
OF LAW? P. 26
 Parliament (Acts, Statutes,
Legislation)
 Delegated authorities/bodies
 Courts (case law, common law,
judge-made law)
 Traditional/Indigenous laws and
customs
 WHAT ARE THE HOUSES OF THE
COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENT
CALLED? P. 29-30
 WHAT ARE THE HOUSES OF THE
VICTORIAN PARLIAMENT CALLED?
P. 31
 WHAT ARE THE STEPS IN THE
LEGISLATIVE PROCESS? P. 36-37
 Initiation and first reading in the
Lower House
 Second reading
 Consideration in detail/Committee
of the Whole
 Third reading
 Repeated in the Upper House
 If passed, goes to the Governor or
Governor General for Royal Assent
 Becomes law
• The most important role
is to make laws. P. 32
• Parliament also:
• Manages finances
(taxes)
• Monitors delegated
legislation
• Discusses and
debates issues
• Investigates issues
related to
government
 Parliament has the power to make,
change and cancel laws.
 What are the advantages of
Parliamentary law-making? What
are the disadvantages? P. 50
 Parliament may give some of its
law-making powers to a
subordinate body.
 Delegated legislation can be made
by statutory authorities,
government departments, the
Executive Council and local
municipal councils.
 What are the advantages of
delegated law-making? What are
the disadvantages? P. 45
 HOW DO COURTS DECIDE WHAT A
LAW MEANS? P. 49
 Interpretation Acts
(Purpose/Object of the Act,
Hansard, minutes, reports,
inquiries, law reform bodies,
dictionaries and recognised legal
texts)
 Legal maxims (e.g. ejusdem
generis)
 Precedents (legal principles from
previous similar cases decided by
the higher courts)
 WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR
EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF A LAW? P. 11
 Known
 Understood
 Accepted
 Stable
 Consistent
 Enforced
 Accessible
 BILL is a draft law
 STATUTORY INTERPRETATION is the
process by which courts decide
what a law means and how to
apply it in a particular situation
 PRECEDENT is a legal principle
developed by higher courts which
are then generally followed by
lower courts in similar cases
 LEGISLATIVE PROCESS describes
the steps involved in turning a bill
into a piece of legislation (through
Parliament)
 DELEGATED LEGISLATION is a law
made by a body (not Parliament)
which Parliament has given some
of its law-making power to
 STATUTES, ACTS, LEGISLATION =
laws