Constitutional Law 733515
Subject Objectives
On completion of this subject, students should:
- have developed an understanding of
- the structure and operation of the Australian Commonwealth and state constitutions, in theory and practice
- core provisions of the Australian Commonwealth and state constitutions, constitutional decisions and constitutional principles
- constitutional skills and techniques, including constitutional interpretation and characterisation
- the relevance of constitutional law to how governments address public policy issues and to how Commonwealth legislation is drafted and interpreted
- the impact of constitutional law on the individual and different groups within society
- the main aspects of practice and procedure in constitutional litigation
- be able to draw on this understanding to
- describe and critically analyse the fundamental principles of constitutional law
- identify relevant constitutional law decisions and state and critically analyse the legal principles that emerge from them
- critically analyse the relationship between these legal principles and the fundamental principles of constitutional law
- apply constitutional law principles to new fact situations
- develop arguments as to what legal principles should be applied when the relevant constitutional provisions or decisions are unclear or in conflict
- present these descriptions, analyses and applications of principles in the form of written and oral arguments that are appropriately structured, developed, supported and referenced
- have enhanced general cognitive skills in relation to reading and comprehending legal materials; logical analysis and reasoning; legal research and writing; application of legal principles to factual situations; identifying relevant factual information; identifying and considering options to resolve legal problems; drawing on the knowledge of other disciplines to understand and resolve legal issues.
