LAW3201 Constitutional Law A
|Semester 1, 2013 On-campus Toowoomba|
|Faculty or Section :||Faculty of Business and Law|
|School or Department :||School of Law|
|Version produced :||21 July 2014|
Examiner: Anthony Gray
Moderator: Jeremy Patrick
Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at http://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/support/computing/hardware.
Constitutional law is one of the fundamental areas of legal knowledge required in order to meet the requirements for admission as a legal practitioner in Australia. It underpins all of the statute law made in Australia.
The constitutions of Australian governments are the basis by which power may be exercised over the citizens of the nation. Understanding the limits of those powers and the way the various government levels interact is the basis of understanding law making in Australia. Students will become familiar with the Commonwealth and State Constitutions, including the division of powers between different levels of government in Australia's federal system, the settlement of disputes between Federal and State Governments over which of them has power to make laws in particular areas, and the role of the High Court in the interpretation of the Constitution. Limits to law making powers will be considered. Students will be asked to consider to what extent interpretation of the Constitution should evolve as the needs of society change, and to critically reflect on the development of Australian constitutionalism since federation.
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
- explain the structure and purpose of the Commonwealth Constitution
- appreciate the division of areas of responsibility between the Federal and State Governments
- explain restrictions in the Commonwealth Constitution on the ability of the Federal and State Government to pass laws
- apply general policies underlying Constitutional law in Australia in order to evaluate those laws, in particular for the topics considered in this course
- research primary and secondary materials (as relevant) while critically reviewing an issue in law relevant to the topics considered in this course
- explain the legal principles relevant to the topics considered in this course
- apply such legal principles to given fact situations in order to determine the likely outcome to issues raised
- demonstrate effective, appropriate and persuasive communication skills.
|1.||Introduction to constitutional law||10.00|
|2.||Introduction to Australia's federal system||10.00|
|3.||Limits on state law making power||30.00|
|5.||Introduction to the Commonwealth Constitution||10.00|
|6.||The international dimension||15.00|
Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed
ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from USQ's Online Bookshop (unless otherwise stated). (https://bookshop.usq.edu.au/bookweb/subject.cgi?year=2013&sem=01&subject1=LAW3201)
Please contact us for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://bookshop.usq.edu.au/contact/)
Keyzer, P, Clarke, J & Stellios, J 2012, Hanks' Australian constitutional law: materials and commentary, 9th edn, LexisNexis Butterworths, Chatswood, New South Wales.
LEGISLATION: Commonwealth Constitution; Queensland Constitution.
Gray, A 2009, Human rights in Australia: looking forward, looking back, VDM Verlag, Germany.
Ratnapala, S & Crowe, J 2012, Australian constitutional law: foundations and theory, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Victoria.
LexisNexis AU [electronic database] - accessible via USQ Library Database Services at http://www.usq.edu.au/library/eservices/ezp.lexis.nexis.htm.
Student workload requirements
|Lectures and Tutorials||39.00|
|Description||Marks out of||Wtg (%)||Due Date||Notes|
|FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT||0||0||26 Feb 2013||(see note 1)|
|ESSAY/MOOT||40||40||17 Apr 2013|
|TUTORIAL PERFORMANCE||10||10||07 Jun 2013|
|2-HOUR EXAMINATION||50||50||End S1||(see note 2)|
- Students will be provided with some formative assessment within the first month of the course.
- The examination is scheduled to be held in the end-of-semester examination period. Students will be advised of the official examination date after the timetable has been finalised.
Important assessment information
It is the students' responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities (such as lectures, tutorials, laboratories and practical work) scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. (Depending upon the requirements in Statement 4 below, students may not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to receive a passing grade in this course.)
Penalties for late submission of required work:
If students submit assignments after the due date without prior approval of the examiner, then a penalty of 5% of the total marks gained by the student for the assignment may apply for each working day late up to ten working days at which time a mark of zero may be recorded.
Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.
This will be an open examination. Candidates may have access to any printed or written material and a calculator during the examination.
Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
Any Deferred or Supplementary examinations for this course will be held during the next examination period.
University Student Policies:
Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at http://policy.usq.edu.au.
Referencing in assignments: Students studying this course as part of a Bachelor of Laws must use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) style. Students who are not enrolled in a Bachelor of Laws may use either Harvard (AGPS) or the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. For AGLC style guide enquiries, consult the AGLC manual from the USQ Library's referencing guide at http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing, or contact the Law librarian. The Harvard (AGPS) style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide at http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing.
Computer, e-mail and Internet access: Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at http://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/support/computing/hardware.