Legal System and Skills - LAWS1121
Faculty: Faculty of Law
School: Faculty of Law
Course Outline: See below
Campus: Sydney
Career: Undergraduate
Units of Credit: 6
EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 4
Enrolment Requirements:
Prerequisite: Academic program must be 7016, Humanities Pathway Program.
CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)
Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule
Further Information: See Class Timetable
View course information for previous years.
Description
These courses are only available to indigenous students enrolled in Humanities Pathway Program with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
LAWS1121 - Legal System and Skills (‘LSS’) is a core course for Enabling Program (Law Stream) students in their first semester of study. This course is worth 6 units of credit. It complements, and is studied in the same semester as, LAWS1122 - Legal Experience 1.
The focus of LSS is to examine the nature and sources of law in Australian society, in addition to the connections between law and society. It teaches the foundations and workings of the Australian legal system by adopting a critical and contextual approach. Integrated with these themes is the development of core legal skills in reading, writing and speaking. There is a focus on developing the skills to interpret primary sources of law, namely cases and statutes.
These skills and knowledge are an essential foundation for the second semester Enabling Program (Law Stream) courses as well as for eventual progression into the law degree.
The focus of LSS is to examine the nature and sources of law in Australian society, in addition to the connections between law and society. It teaches the foundations and workings of the Australian legal system by adopting a critical and contextual approach. Integrated with these themes is the development of core legal skills in reading, writing and speaking. There is a focus on developing the skills to interpret primary sources of law, namely cases and statutes.
These skills and knowledge are an essential foundation for the second semester Enabling Program (Law Stream) courses as well as for eventual progression into the law degree.
Main Topics
This foundational course aims to introduce students to the study of law through a study of the history and operation of the Australian legal system. This will entail, broadly speaking, developing knowledge, understanding and skills as appropriate in the following areas:
- legal thinking
- personal growth and success as a law student
- the attributes a practising lawyer needs
- understanding traditional and critical theories to explain what law is
- historical origins of the Australian legal system
- the place of Indigenous law in the Australian legal system
- legal institutions including the arms of government (legislature, executive and judicature)
- Australia’s system of government
- constitutional principles including the separation of powers, representative government and responsible
- government in theory and in practice
- rule of law
- acts of parliament – their creation and interpretation
- the court system
- the ‘common law’
- the doctrine of precedent and approaches to judging
- classification of law
- access to justice
Study Levels
UNSW Quick Links
