_This article is inspired by the book “An Introduction to the Law of Contract” 9th Edition, by: Stephen Graw._We are looking at law in the present time rather than history or origin, whole purpose is to get on some basics of Australian law.“Law defines rules of behaviour that a particular society acts collectively for its own self governance.” _(Graw, 2019)_ Australian law is formed from english law (origin 1788), contains two types; 1. **Enacted (written) Law** Which is made by parliament to rule state and federal parliament (used by all legislative bodies), which is observed through our councils “known as STATUTE”. _Enacted laws are obtained from,_ - Constitution - Legislation - Subsidiary legislation 2. **Unenacted ( unwritten) Law** These are law made by courts (through judges) without any parliament involvement “known as CASE LAW or PRECEDENT”. _Unenacted laws are obtained from,_ - Common Law - Equity Law Australia got three major parts in law; 1. **Common Law** Which is truly common among particular society in terms of customs, ethics, religion, legislation. Because different societies see things differently and have differing value systems, it is often the case that law differs from society to society. These common laws are not written formally, infact decisions and words of cases are documented in law report of each case and based on them judge needs to extract common law rules as required, which means common law is continuously developing. In common law rule/terms are; _- Uniform- Certainty- Fairness_ Common law exhibits uniformity across system and society ensuring “doctrine of precedent” decisions were consistent to treat person and situation. Appeal system is found in common law to ensure any improper decisions can be rectified. 2. **Equity** When things grew some cases under common law suffered to establish fair decisions because of its inflexibility, which gave growth to equity. Things beyond common law are handled by equity law as common law focus on compensation for misconduct, where equity could also in addition includes remedies in particulars, specific performance, injunction, declaration and rescission.  _Note:_ _Mareva injunction is designed to prevent a person from taking property out of country to defeat any anticipated judgement__._ Both the common law and equity law is applied in the same court, judge decides application based on remedies to make decision fair. 3. **Statute** These are the law from parliament both state and federal which form democracy. - Under parliament legislative, federal power is very limited and need to co-exist with other states to make laws for the nation's benefits. This determines that law of each state shall have its own regulation and only people who reside locally in respective state becomes subject to law of that state. - Now coming down to powers in legislative law,  **! Concurrent legislative powers** controls and manages business (as tax, banking, insurances, etc) and are shared between federal and state legislative bodies.  **! Exclusive powers** are related to national security and governance (as defence, customs, excise, etc) and these are managed by federal parliament alone. ![[Source of Law in Australia.jpg]] Overall all law play variety of roles but got few common principles, - As they reflect broader and wide collective community views on right and wrong. - Law is used as instrument sometimes weapon used to control situations and bring change in society - Law penalise or punish lawbreakers / breach among community standards. **Division of powers** Powers are divided into three independent bodies; 1. Parliament or Legislative Power (who are lawmakers) 2. Executive Power (who are law administrators, as ministers, public servants) 3. Judicial Power (who interpret and apply laws, as judges and courts) ![[The Constitution.png]] **Doctrine of Precedent** (DOP) applies to both common and equity law. Precedent is deciding case and its reasons_/ing_ needs to be followed by other courts dealing with similar facts, situations, in making these decisions which enforces judges to make decisions based on early binding or authoritative precedent. _Note: “Any decisions that is PRE INCURIAM which means judge fails to follow a binding precedent will normally be revised on appeal”._ Doctrine of Precedent can be excluded when,  - there is no binding precedent - precedent exist, but distinct on its own facts - two or more precedents exist but differ in decisions **Courts** Court is defined as “a body of people presided over by a judge, judges, or magistrate, and acting as a tribunal in civil and criminal cases” _(oxford dictionary, category; noun)_. Work of court is to control, manage apply law in country. Court hears evidence and witnesses from both parties and accordingly rules decision. The official power of the court refers to case type, to make legal decisions and judgements based on hearing within limits of court’s authority (limits reference to type of crime committed). ![[Courts.jpg]] **Local or Magistrate courts** are at lowest level in state and deals with civil related activities and less serious crime activities. Any parties dissatisfied with local court decisions can appeal to District court. **District or County courts** hears appeal from local court where magistrate is unsure of question and district court advice its opinion based on law. The design of this court structure is to avoid unnecessary appeals. **Supreme court**  is one highest court in state and its decisions are made by single judge or by full court (3-5 judges). Single judge exercise court's original jurisdiction and full court decisions are made by opinions of majority of judges who geared the appeal.   **High court** is national court sits most of the countries in the capital city as Australian high court sits in Canberra. Decisions of this court is final in legal system. **Federal court**  - Refers to existing Australian colonies court system for federal law - Under Australian constitution  - A special court of justice “who is/are expert in the specialised field” is appointed for specific matters. Advantages are, minimising wait time, keep legal costs low, no need to follow strict court procedures and over all judges were able to understand dispute with greater technical depth than regular judge in court. And these **specialist tribunals** are set by statute at federal and state level. -  **_Competition Tribunal_** Cases are reviewed by ACCC. Permissions are granted by the Commission permitting conduct and arrangements.Consists of 3 members; federal Court judge, and economist and an experienced business person. **State Courts** -  Created under state constitutions -  Holds special matters: **_Youth court_** (for youths under the age of 18 years) and The coroners court (for violent death cases) **_Small Claims Tribunal_** Set for consumer cases (transactions outside business).Heard by referee and there are no rules to employ legal representatives. Disputes limited to $6000 (may vary from state to state).