Free SACE Legal Studies Flashcard Review

The rule of law requires that everyone, including government officials and lawmakers, is bound by and accountable to the law; no one is above it. It ensures laws are clear, publicly known, consistently applied and that individuals have access to justice if wronged.

Separation of powers is the division of government into three distinct branches—legislative (parliament), executive (ministers and Cabinet), and judicial (courts)—each with different functions to prevent any one branch accumulating excessive power.

Judicial independence ensures judges decide cases impartially, free from pressure from government or other interests; it upholds the rule of law and public confidence in the courts.

Judges have security of tenure (cannot be removed except by parliament); they receive a fixed salary (not subject to executive control); and courts are independent of parliament and executive in deciding cases.

Ministers are members of parliament, creating overlap: the executive controls the legislature through the party majority, reducing parliamentary scrutiny and enabling potential abuse of power unchecked by the judiciary.

Government power must be based on law; any law must be properly made through the established legal process. Arbitrary power without legal authority breaches the rule of law.

Retroactive laws that criminalise conduct that was lawful when done breach the rule of law because they deny people fair notice of what is illegal and punish conduct that was lawful at the time.

Access to justice ensures that people can seek court review of government decisions and enforce their legal rights; without it, individuals cannot hold others accountable to the law.

Courts interpret and apply the law fairly and impartially, resolve disputes, review the legality of government action, and protect individuals' rights against unlawful exercises of power.

Judicial review examines only whether a government decision was made lawfully (procedure, evidence, authority); courts do not substitute their judgment on the merits or the wisdom of the decision.

Representative government is a system in which citizens elect representatives to parliament who make laws and policy decisions on their behalf; the representatives are accountable to voters through elections.

Responsible government requires that the executive (Ministers and Cabinet) remains answerable to parliament for their decisions and actions; they can be removed if they lose the confidence of the lower house.

Representative government focuses on who makes decisions (elected representatives); responsible government focuses on how they remain accountable (to parliament, not directly to voters, through votes of confidence).

Because the lower house directly represents voters and has the power to remove the government through a vote of no confidence; a government that loses the lower house majority must resign or face dismissal.

The executive must answer for its decisions to parliament and the public; it remains subject to parliamentary scrutiny, financial controls (Appropriation Acts), and the possibility of removal through loss of confidence.

The government must resign and hand over to an alternative government that can command confidence, or call an election; a government cannot remain in office without lower-house support.

Ministers must answer parliamentary questions, submit to scrutiny, and face potential dismissal if they lose confidence; this creates a powerful incentive to govern within legal and constitutional bounds.

No; voters elect members of parliament. The party or coalition that can command a majority in the lower house forms government; government is not directly elected, but derives power from holding a lower-house majority.

Representatives are elected (representative government), and the executive drawn from and answerable to representatives (responsible government); this keeps elected representatives in control of the executive.

The executive must retain the confidence of the lower house; if ministers lose parliamentary support through poor governance, scandal or bad policy, the lower house can remove them and form a new government.