Legal Studies: should I choose it?

Learning requirements

Concepts

Law and communities

Government

Law-making

Justice and society

Young people and the law

Victims and the law

Focus area 1: Sources of law

This compulsory focus area covers the underlying principles of the Australian legal system — the rule of law, separation of powers, responsible government, representative government and judicial independence — then the structure, composition and role of the Commonwealth Parliament and the South Australian Parliament: bicameralism, the Senate, parliamentary committees, question time, members, ministers and Cabinet. It examines how laws are made by parliaments (bills, public and private members' bills, the stages of a bill) and by delegated bodies (regulations, by-laws) and how delegated legislation is supervised, then how laws are made by the courts, including the High Court, through precedent, stare decisis, ratio decidendi, obiter dicta and statutory interpretation, alongside the structure of the South Australian court hierarchy. It closes on the relationship between the three arms of government, the strengths and weaknesses of different law-making processes, how groups and individuals influence law-makers, and how institutions of government protect the rights of groups and individuals, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Focus area 2: Dispute resolution

This compulsory focus area covers the features of the adversary system and why they matter: the burden and standard of proof, the rule of law, the role of the judge, the role of the parties, witnesses and other participants including juries, and the rules of evidence and procedure. It examines how criminal and civil disputes are resolved with and without a trial — pre-trial procedures, guilty pleas, negotiation and alternative dispute resolution — the key features and principles of criminal and civil law, and the effectiveness of the adversary system compared with inquisitorial systems (Australian courts are typically more adversarial but incorporate some inquisitorial features). It closes on how the adversary system of trial protects the rights of groups and individuals in the community, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Optional area 1: The Australian Constitution

This optional area covers the origins of Australia's constitutional system and its underlying principles and key features: separation of powers, division of powers, preservation of state powers, representative government, responsible government, constitutional monarchy, referendum procedures and the role of the High Court of Australia. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of Australia's constitutional system, how decisions of the High Court have affected the legal system and society, and how the Constitution influences Australia's relationships with other countries and protects groups and individuals, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Optional area 2: When rights collide

This optional area is teacher-developed around one or more areas of law in Australia and/or overseas where rights collide; the outline sets big questions rather than fixed content. It asks how the legal system protects rights and enforces obligations, whether rights and obligations should vary with context, whose values are reflected in law, how minority groups are affected by laws and how laws provide for future generations, and why and how legal systems vary across the world.

Competing tensions and examination skills

Running across all four areas are the four fixed competing tensions — competing rights and responsibilities; fairness and efficiency; the empowered and the disempowered; certainty and flexibility — and the big questions and inquiry questions that frame argument in this subject, together with the assessment design criteria the exam is marked against (Understanding and Application, Analysis and Evaluation, Communication).