Foundations of Australian Law aims to assist students to develop a range of legal skills that are essential for successful legal studies and for professional practice. These include skills in legal reading, legal reasoning, legal analysis, legal writing, and legal research. It also aims to provide students with foundational knowledge of the law (with a focus on case law and legislation) and of the Australian legal system.
This course must be taken in the Summer or Winter Session immediately prior to that semester.
Foundations of Australian Law is designed to lay the groundwork for the remainder of students' legal studies. In particular, the course aims to assist students to develop a range of legal skills that are crucial for successful legal studies and for professional practice. Students learn the essential skills that enable them to engage with and utilise our principal sources of law - case law and legislation. In addition to teaching students how to analyse case law and legislation in order to formulate legal arguments the course also covers the key legal principles of statutory interpretation and the role of the courts in interpreting statutes.
To set the context for these sources of Australian law, the course also seeks to familiarise students with
(1) some of the fundamental features of the legal institutions that generate laws (the courts and the Parliament);
(2) sources of Australian law in addition to case law and legislation (including the Australian Constitution, customary law and international law); and
(3) the historical and social forces that have shaped and continue to shape the law-making process and the legal system.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
At the conclusion of this course it is expected that students will be able to:• discuss and explain the sources of law in Australia;
• discuss the historical and social context of the institutions of the Australian legal system;
• discuss the process of law-making;
• formulate oral and written arguments in response to questions about the Australian legal system and the process of law-making;;
• identify and discuss legal principles obtained from reading and analysing selected case law;
• utilise methods of legal reasoning to apply relevant legal principles to a set of facts and generate legally defensible conclusions for the purpose of advising on legal problems;
• identify, discuss and apply the principles of statutory interpretation;
• engage in legal research utilising a variety of legal research sources, including legal databases, in order to research case law, legislation and scholarly journal articles;
• use legal citation conventions appropriately in the course of legal writing;
• reflect critically on case law, legislation and the Australian legal system; and
• utilise feedback to critically reflect on their own developing legal skills and understanding.
Indicative Assessment
The assessment for this course will include skills-based exercises and assignments during semester followed by a final examination. Details of the assessment will be provided on the course Wattle page by the first week of semester.The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
In Semester 1, the Foundations of Australian Law course for JD students (LAWS6101) will be run on a semi-intensive basis. The course will span the first seven weeks of the semester.In Semester 2, the course will run as a two-hour seminar each week and a mixture of lecture and other learning activities delivered live and/or in a variety of flexible formats (equivalent to a further hour per week)
Requisite and Incompatibility
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 3
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $3090 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $4350 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3489 | 16 Feb 2015 | 06 Mar 2015 | 31 Mar 2015 | 29 May 2015 | In Person | N/A |
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3520 | 20 Jul 2015 | 07 Aug 2015 | 31 Aug 2015 | 30 Oct 2015 | In Person | N/A |
