Key Concepts
Key Concepts
The Legal System
The Legal System
Sources of Australian Contemporary Law
100
The absence of laws and government.
What is anarchy?
100
Free from bias, dishonesty, injustice. A concept commonly related to everyday activities.
What is fairness?
100
The body of principles used to ensure the fairness and justice of the decision-making procedures of courts; the right to present your case, the right to freedom from bias by decision-makers, the right to a decision based on logically relevant evidence.
What is natural justice/ procedural fairness?
100
A politically independent country.
What is nation-state?
100
An application to have a higher court reconsider a lower court's decision, on the basis of an error of law.
What is appeal?
200
Principles and procedures that have developed according to the customs of a people/ nation. It is treated obligatory.
What is customary law?
200
Courts whose decisions were more discretionary and based on moral principles, and which served as an antidote to the inflexibility of the common law.
What is courts of equity?
200
The principle that no one is above the law; the most important application of this is that governmental authority is exercised in accordance with written, publicly disclosed laws that are adopted and enforced in accordance with established procedural steps.
What is the rule of law?
200
Latin: "incapable of wrong" The presumption that a child under 10 cannot be held lgally responsible for his actions and cannot be guilty of a criminal or civil offence.
What is doli incapax?
200
The ability/ power of a court to hear appeals of the decisions of lower courts and to reject, modify or affirm these.
What is appellate jurisdiction?
300
Established patterns/ collective habits that have developed in a society over a long period of time.
What are customs?
300
The legal principle of upholding generally accepted rights and enforcing responsibilities, ensuring that equal outcomes are achieved for those involved.
What is justice?
300
Regulations/ principles governing procedure and controlling conduct.
What are rules?
300
A penalty imposed on those who break the law, usually in form a fine or punishment
What is a sanction?
300
Law made by courts.
What is common law?
400
The state/ quality of being equal - having the same rights and status.
What is equality?
400
A set of rules imposed on all members of a community which are officially recognized. They are binding and enforceable by police, courts, etc.
What is law?
400
Rule by a single leader holding absolute power in a nation-state.
What is tyranny?
400
A system of resolving legal conflicts, used in common law countries. It relies on the skill of representatives (e.g. defense and prosecution lawyers) who present their cases to an impartial decision-maker.
What is the adversarial system?
400
Law made by parliaments.
What is statute law?
500
Rules which are set concerning what is morally correct within a society.
What are ethics?
500
The system of courts, prosecutors, and police in a country.
What is the legal system?
500
Principles, standards, and qualities considered worthwhile/ desirable within a society.
What are values?
500
The right or opportunity to make use of something.
What is access?
500
A legal system where the court/ part of the court (e.g. the judge) is actively involved in conducting the trial and determining what questions to ask; used in some countries with civil legal systems as opposed to common law systems.
What is the inquisitorial system?
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