The Long Arm of the Law Flashcards
What are Rules?
(Who does it apply to and who is it enforced to?)
Rules only have to be followed by the people in the organisation, school, or club. It is enforced by the organisation that made them. Eg; Firbank Rules do Not apply to Star of the Sea students.
What are Laws?
(Who does it apply to and who is it enforced to?)
Laws apply to everyone in the community. They are enforced by the state through government officials, police and the court
Define Criminal Law
is concerned with cases in which a person has committed an offence against the well-being of the community. It includes offences against:
- The state such as terrorism or sabotage
- A person, such as murder or assault
- Property, such as theft or damage
- Public Order, such as traffic offences, tagging and abusive language.
Define Summary Offence
A less serious offence. Eg; speeding, littering. It is heard in the Magistrates Court
Define Indictable Offences
A serious criminal offence that is heard before a judge or jury in the County or Supreme Courts. For example, armed robbery, culpable driving, rape, and murder.
Define Defendant/Accused
A person being prosecuted for criminal offences in court.
Children under 10
- cannot be held responsible for committing a crime as they don’ know the difference between right and wrong
Children 10-14
- presumed to not understand the consequences of their actions so it is up to the prosecution or police to prove what they were doing was wrong
Aged 15 and up
young people can be punished - sanctions, and court might be different to adults.
Why should Australia lift the age of criminal responsibility?
- Should be able to learn from their mistakes.
- Are they doing it because they have mental health problems?
- They need to get an education, have a future
- Raising children in jail will only lead to them having a criminal mind
Define Civil Law
concerned with cases in which there is a dispute between private individuals
- corporation or company is considered to be an individual
Why does the court hear civil cases?
To restore/preserve the rights of individuals and to settle the dispute
Define Plaintiff
The injured party, who has had the wrong done to them
Examples of Civil Cases
- Defamation: protect your reputation
- Negligence: protect yourself
- Trespass: protect your property
Purpose of having Civil Laws:
- To protect your rights eg. right to safety
- Impose a duty on others to not do anything to cause harm eg. drive recklessly
- Provide a remedy such as compensation in the event of a breach of civil rights.
Explain the in Purpose of having Civil Laws
If someone breaks the law and harms you or violates your rights, civil laws provide a way to make things right eg. in the form of money as compensation
Define Judge
person in charge of the county or supreme court. they are impartial and know the rules about courtroom procedures inside and out
Define Magistrate
the person in charge of the Magistrate court
Define Prosecutor
the person who represents the State in court tries to prove the defendant guilty
Define Barrister
the person who represents the accused/defendant
Define Closed Court
one where the judge does not allow members of the public to attend eg; if it involves children or sexual assault.
What is jurisdiction?
the power of a court to hear a case. It is the official power to make legal decisions and judgements.
What is involved in the Supreme Court?
- hears indictable criminal offences
- hears civil appeals from the magistrates’ court eg; murder and manslaughter
- hears civil cases where the plaintiff is seeking large amounts of money (called damages for the harm they suffered)
Where are the appeals in the Supreme Court heard?
In the Supreme Court of Appeals
What is involved in the County Court?
- Hears indictable offences such as sexual assaults, drug trafficking and dangerous driving causing death
- hears civil cases where the plaintiff is seeking over $100,000
- About 10% of cases are Criminal appeals from the Magistrates’ court. No civil appeals
What is involved in the Magistrates’ Court?
- hears summary criminal offences such as property damage, driving offences, being drunk and disorderly, common assault and theft
- It hears civil cases where the plaintiff is seeking damages up to $100,000.
- It never has a jury and it never hears appeals.
List the 3 benefits of court hierarchy
- Specialisation
- Precedent
- Rights of Appeal
Benefit to Court Hierarchy: Explain Specialisation
the courts are ranked in order of importance according to types of cases they hear.
eg; the more experienced judges go to the more complex cases
Benefit to Court Hierarchy: Explain Precedent
higher court makes a decision that is binding on lower courts in the same hierarchy
Benefit to Court Hierarchy: Explain rights of appeal
can appeal to a higher court, provides fairness and allows for mistakes to be corrected
Define Appeal
a request to a higher court to review a decision made by a lower court
Name the highest court of Appeal. Where?
The hHgh Court in Canberra
What court hierarchy never hears appeals?
Magistrates’ Court. There is no lower court
What are the 2 special branches of the Magistrates’ Courts
- Children’s Court
- Coroner’s Court
Children’s Court: Criminal Division
where the defendant is 10-18 years old when the crime was committed and under 19 when the trial occurs
-hears matters relating to criminal offending by children and young persons
- has jurisdiction to hear and determine charges
Children’s Court: Family Division
cases from children 0-17 years of age who are in need of care and protection as the child is at risk of:
1. being ill-treated or abused
2. being abandoned
3. having no one to look after them
What does the Coroner’s Court do?
- investigate unexpected or suspicious deaths, including all fires and drownings
Purpose of Coroner’s Court
to find out the identity of the person who died, the cause of the death or the fire and in some situations, the circumstances surrounding the death or fire and helps us to get ew laws to keep us safe eg; pool fences due to many deaths of children in backyard pools.
Define Bail
the release of an accused person back into society while awaiting trial
Define Remand
to hold a person in custody while awaiting trial. Can be in there for MONTHS.
Name the 2 ways the law is made
- Parliament
- Common Law
How a law is made - Parliament
- democratically elected and representative bodies that made laws in the form of acts or statutes. Statute Law is made by Parliament.
How is a law made - Common Law
laws that come from decisions made by judges in court
How are the juries made? How is it selected?
Your name is given from an electoral vote (means you must be an Australian Citizen and over 18 years).
How much do juries get paid?
$40 per day for the first 6 days, $80 for every day after that.
How do Jury’s work in Criminal Cases?
- Always must be 12 Jurors
- need to have a unanimous decision of all 12 for very serious cases. 11 out of 12 for less serious cases.
- they decide whether the person is guilty beyond reasonable doubt
- decide if person is guilty or not guilty
What does beyond reasonable doubt mean?
They must have no doubt in mind that the person did/did not do it.
How do Juries work in Civil Cases
- paid by the party who requests a jury
- 6 jurors
- decide who is liable AND award the amount of damages to be paid.
- on the balance of probabilty (eg is it 50% or more)
what does the balance of probability mean?
- “more likely than not”
- the court is satisfied that an event occurred if the court considers that the evidence indicates that the event more likely occurred, than it did not.
Drug Treatment Order: Custodial
a sentence of imprisonment - not exceeding over two years - to be served in the community to allow the participant to receive drug and/or alcohol treatment
Drug Treatment Order: Treatment and Supervision
aims to address the participants drug or alcohol dependence.
Adversarial Trial
when two opposing parties in the case present their arguments with the judge acting as an impartial umpire. The court hears the evidence and after all the evidence is heard, the jury decides who wins the case
What is a statute law?
a written law made by parliament
role of parties in adversarial trial
they prepare and present their cases. they provide evidence to support their version of the case
role of representative in adversarial trial
to help the party to present their case
How to avoid being on jury - Ineligble
- Are employed in the legal industry - people who currently work in or in the past 10 years have worked as police officers, court officials, judges, lawyers
- Are intellectually or physically handicapped
- cant speak or understand english
How to avoid being on jury - Disqualificition
- People who have been imprisoned for 3 months or more in the last 5 years
- have served at least 3 years in jail in their life, or are on remand, bail
How to avoid being on jury - excused
- illness or poor health
- incapacity
- distance >50km for melbourne
- advanced age
- person is a carer and no alternatives exist
Process of Jury
- Turn 18 and put your name on the electoral roll
- chosen at random and recieve a questionnaire
- complete the question (here you can be found ineligible or disqualified)
- if eligible and not disqualified attend jury pool (could be excused)
- if not excused, wait to be empanelled.
What does it mean if a Juror is deferred?
Those who have a really good reason for not being able to serve as apart of the Jury. It can be deferred up to 12 months.
Example of deferral
teacher selected for jury service during November could have jury service deferred to another time that is more convenient since the teach could be busy preparing year 12 students for their VCE exams.
When does Juror Exemption occur?
- people selected for jury service, whether or not they actually serve as a juror on a trial, are exempt from further jury selection for a period not exceeding 3 years
- urors who have served during lengthy trials may be exempted by the court
Jury Strengths
- Helps to promote an understanding of the legal system to ordinary citizens
- Having more than one decision-maker reduces the pressure on any one person or on a judge alone deciding the verdict.
- Gives the community confidence that they are being ‘tried by their peers’
Jury Weaknesses
- Ordinary people might not be able to follow the case due to legal language or the complex details of some trials
- Having juries adds to the time and cost of the trial
- Juries do not give reasons for their decisions so there is no transparency
