This document discusses legal and non-legal rules, the need for laws, characteristics of effective laws, and types of laws. It distinguishes between civil and criminal law, and outlines some key aspects of criminal law such as crimes against the person like murder and manslaughter. It also discusses criminal sanctions like imprisonment, fines, and community correction orders. The overall purpose is to provide an overview of Australia's legal and political system, including how laws are made and enforced.

1. UNIT 2 LAW & GOVERNANCE
Year 10 People & Society

2. LEGAL AND NON-LEGAL RULES
Made by private
individuals or
groups, e.g.
parents, schools
Cannot be
enforced by the
courts
Non-
legal
rules
Made by law-
making bodies with
the force of law,
e.g. parliament,
local councils
Can be enforced
by the courts
Legal
rules
Rules tell us what we can and cannot do

3. NEED FOR LAWS
 Main aim of the law is to protect our society and keep it functioning
 The law aims to protect individual rights
 Stop behaviour that will affect peace and the good order of society
 Without laws our society would be in chaos
 Laws are needed to provide guidelines of acceptable behaviour and
prevent conflict

4. CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LAW
Must be known
to the public
Acceptable to
the community
Able to be
enforced
Stable
Able to be
changed

5. TYPES OF LAW
 Australian laws are classified into categories according to the
types of actions that have taken place and the outcome
required when the law has been broken.
Criminal Civil

6. DISTINCTION BETWEEN CIVIL & CRIMINAL LAW
Civil Law Criminal Law
Protects individual rights
Relates to disputes between
two parties (civil actions)
The main aim of civil law is to
return the person whose rights
have been infringed to their
original position
E.g. family law or tort law
Protects entire community by
keeping the peace
Relates to acts or omissions
against society
The main aims are to
apprehend, prosecute and
punish people who have broken
the law and to deter others from
breaking the law
E.g. murder or theft

7. HISTORY OF OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM
• Pre 20th Century Australia
was six separate British
colonies
• The founding fathers
proposed federation
• The Commonwealth of
Australia Constitution Act (UK)
1900 was passed

8. AUSTRALIA'S SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
• Constitutional monarchy -
parliaments operate under a set of
rules outlined in their constitutions
• A constitution is a legal document
that outlines the basic rules of
government and the law making
powers of the parliament
• The Queen of England is our Head
of State

9. SOURCES OF LAW

10. DIVISIONS OF LAW-MAKING POWER
• Commonwealth Parliament has exclusive powers and some shared
powers with state government (concurrent powers). In areas of shared
powers, Commonwealth law prevails
• Parliament made law is known as acts of parliament, legislation and/or
statute law
• Can delegate some power to other bodies known as subordinate
authorities (e.g. local councils). These laws are known as delegated
legislation
• Courts can make law through the ruling in a case before them. This is
known as precedent and is followed by similar court cases in future
instances, however parliament can override precedent.

11. THREE LEVELS OF LAW-MAKING
BODIES

12. STRUCTURE OF PARLIAMENT
Commonwealth
Parliament
Victorian Parliament
Head of State
Queen's Representative
Governor-general Governor
Upper house Senate Legislative Council
Lower house
House of
Representatives
Legislative Assembly

13. Role of Commonwealth Parliament
Senate House of
Representatives
150 seats
Elected for a 3 year period
Review bills passed by the
Senate
Form the government
Represent the people
Introduce and pass laws
76 senators (equal
representation of each state
and territories)
Elected for 6 years
Review bills passed by the
House of Representatives
House of review
States' house

14. Role of the Victorian Parliament
Legislative Council Legislative
Assembly
88 members
Fixed 4 year term
Introduce and pass bills
Form government
4o members
4 year term
Introduce bills
Review bills passed by
Legislative Assembly
Can reject or amend bills on
review

15. CRIMINAL LAW
Used to
clarify the
types of
behaviour
deemed
criminal by
society.
Outlines
appropriate
punishments
Aims to
protect
society, deter
and punish
offenders

16. Chewing gum is
against the law in
Singapore

17. What is a
crime?
An act or omission that
is against an existing
law, harmful to an
individual or society as
a whole and punishable
by law

18. ELEMENTS OF A CRIME
Actus Reus
A guilty act
Mens Rea
A guilty mind

19. TYPES OF CRIMES
• Minor criminal
offences
• Heard in the
Magistrate’s Court
Summary
offences
• More serious
offences
• Heard in the County
or Supreme Court
Indictable
offences

20. PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY
Burden of
Proof
Standard of
Proof
Presumption
of innocence
Age of
Criminal
Responsibility

21. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON
 Homicide ~ The killing of a person
 Two examples of unlawful homicides include:
 Murder
 Manslaughter

22. MURDER
 Murder is the unlawful killing of another person
with malice aforethought, by a person who is of
age of discretion (10 years old or over) and of
sound mind
 Max penalty life imprisonment

23. MANSLAUGHTER
 Manslaughter applies in situations
where death occurs as a result of
criminal negligence or an unlawful
and dangerous act
 Criminal Negligence the accused must
owe a duty of care (e.g. a parent has a
duty of care to feed his/her infant)
 Unlawful and dangerous act if someone
is killed during a action that is against the
law (e.g. bank robbery)
 Max penalty 20 years imprisonment

24. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY
Theft
• Dishonestly
taking a person’s
property
• Max penalty 10
years
imprisonment
Robbery
• Using force during
the act of stealing
• Max penalty 15
years
imprisonment
Burglary
• Entering a building to
steal
• Committing assault
as trespasser
• Damaging building
as trespasser
• Max penalty 25
years imprisonment

25. CRIMINAL SANCTIONS
Aims
Punish
Denunciate
RehabilitateDeter
Protect

26. CRIMINAL SANCTIONS: TYPES
 IMPRISONMENT
 FINE
 COMMUNITY CORRECTION ORDER (CCO)

27. IMPRISONMENT
 Imprisonment is the
detaining of an offender in
jail for a period of time
determined on a level
system
 Last resort sanction
 Aims: punish, protect, deter,
denunciate & may
rehabilitate

28. FINE
 A fine is a monetary penalty
paid by the offender to the
court and expressed as
penalty units in 2011-12 a
penalty unit was equal to
$122.14
 Aims of fines: punish & deter
and at times can denunciate

29. COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS ORDER (CCO)
 CCO is a supervised sentence
served in the community which
includes special conditions
such as treatment and unpaid
community work for a specified
number of hours
 Aims of CCO: punish, deter,
protect & rehabilitate

31. PROTECTION OF RIGHTS
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTlrSYbCbHE