Unit 2 AOS 2 Flashcards
Explain the principles of justice and outline how they are upheld in civil law
Fairness: All people can participate in the justice system and its processes shoulde be impartial and open. Fairness is upheld by procedural fairness and legal rights.
Equality: All people engaging with the justice system and its processes should be treated the same way. If being treated equally creates disparity or disadvantage adequate measueres should be implemented. Equality is upheld by natural justice and equal opportunity, independant judge and jury.
Access:All people should be able to engage with the justice system and its processes on an informed basis. Access is upheld by a variety of dispute resolution methods i.e. mediation.
Identify the institutions that resolve civil disputes such as tribunals, ombudsmen, and complaints bodies.
Tribunals: Tribunals are less formal than courts and resolve a broad range of civi disputes. Tribunbals operate at both state and federal level and they are more cost effective than courts.
Ombudsmen: An ombnudsman is an official appointed to investigate individual complaints against a company especially a public authority.
Complaints bodies: Complaints bodies investigate and resoolve disputes through conciliation. Services are free for anyone to access.
Describe methods to resolve a civil dispute
Mediation: Meidation is a dispute resolution method the involved the disputing parties meeting with an independant third party who helps facillitate discussion and assist parties to come to an agreement reffered to as a “term of settlement”.
Concilliation: Is whereby an independant third party can offer legal advice to assist the disputing parties to reach a resolution which i reffered to as a “binding agreement”.
Arbitration: Independant third party listens to both sides of the dispute and assist the parties to come to a resolution. If parties dont come to an agreement the arbitrator will make a legally binding decison.
Provide an overview of of the role and civil jurisdictions of the victorian courts.
Role: The role of courts in civil law is to hear all cases that come before them and determine if the defendant is liable and if so, whether they are totally liable or if the plaintiff has also contributed to their loss. If the defendant is liable, courts will also decide on the remedy, to restore the plaintiff back to their original position.
Civil Jurisdictions: The courts have two types of jurisdictions including original and appellate jurisdiction. Original jurisdiction refers to the type of cases that can be heard by a court in the first instance. Appelate jursidiction refers to the ability of a court to hear a case that has been appealed by a lower court in the court hierarchy.
Explain the role of the jury in a civil trial.
In a civil trial, therole of the jury, made up of six members, is to decide whether theplaintiff(the person bringing the action or ‘suing’ the otherparty) has established their claim. A civil jury is optional in victoria and is paid for by the party requesting it.
Identify the difficulties faced by by different groups in the civil justice system.
Cultural practices: Cultural practices can make it inappropriate for First Nations people to discuss certain topics when giving evidence or are questioned.
Language Barriers:Some significant language barriers can exist due to pronunciation and grammar differences in Torres Strait Islander languages or Australian Aboriginal English compared to Standard English.
Socioeconomic disadvantadges: Several socioeconomic factors relating to economic disadvantage suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can be attributed to higher levels of unemployment, influenced by higher incarceration rates.
Explain the purpose of remedies.
The purpose of a remedy in civil law, is to return the plaintiff back to the original position they were in before the civil wrong occurred.
Identify the types of remedies, such as damages and injuctions.
Damages: Damages are an award (generally financial) to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury. The fundamental purpose of damages is to counteract, the loss or injury suffered by the plaintiff with compensation.
Injunctions: Injunctions are a court order that compels the defendant to either do something (a mandatory injunction) or not do something (a restrictive injunction).
There are three types of damages Special/specific damages, General damages, and aggravated damages.
