Lecture Fundamentals of business law (4th): Chapter 2 - Margaret L. Barron, Richard J.A. Fletcher

Chapter 2 - The Australian court system. The main contents of the chapter consist of the following: Doctrine of precedent, basis of precedent, precedents, jurisdiction, importance of a court hierarchy, court hierarchy, specialist tribunals,...

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The Australian court

system

Chapter 2

• Precedent - a judgement of a court

cited as authority for the legal

principle embodied in the decision

Basis of precedent

• Ratio decidendi - The reason for the

decision made by the judges

• Obiter dictum - Observations made

by judges in explaining or further

clarifying their decisions

• Binding Precedent - Courts must

follow the ratio decidendi of

judgements made in higher courts in the same court hierarchy.

• Persuasive Precedent - Courts may

follow the ratio decidendi of all other

courts not higher in the same court

hierarchy, or the obiter dicta of all

courts.

• Original Jurisdiction - Certain

matters can be heard for the first time.

• Appellate Jurisdiction - Hearing a

matter on appeal from another court.

Importance of a court

hierarchy

• Serious matters are heard by higher courts with more experienced judges.

• Ensures doctrine of precedent can

operate through appellate jurisdiction.

• Allows appeals against decisions on the basis of mistakes of law.

• Allows for specialisation.

Court hierarchy

High Court of Australia

Federal Court of Australia Family Court of Australia Supreme Courts

Industrial Division General Division District Courts

Magistrates and Local Courts Federal Magistrates

Court

Specialist tribunals

Federal levels

• The Administrative Appeals Tribunal – Reviews decisions

of Commonwealth Departments and Statutory Bodies

• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

(ACCC) – Enforces the restrictive trade practices provisions and the consumer protection provisions of the Trade

• Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) –

Prevents and settles disputes, determines industrial matters,

Specialist tribunals

State levels

• Small Claims Tribunals – for consumers to

complain about activities of traders

• Industrial Relations Commissions – prevent

and settle disputes, determine industrial matters, and may approve statutory employment

agreements

Adversary system of justice

• Standard of proof - the degree of

proof required in order to succeed in a legal action

• Burden of proof - the party that is

required to prove its cause (in a legal proceeding)

Adversary system of justice

Criminal matters

Civil matters

Standard of

proof

Beyond a reasonable doubt

On the basis of probabilities

Burden of Prosecution Plaintiff

Cross-vesting laws

State courts can exercise jurisdiction

over Federal matters

and Federal courts can exercise jurisdiction over State matters

Commonwealth Acts Interpretation

Act 1901

S15 AA (1)

• “In the interpretation of a provision of an Act a

construction that would promote the purpose or

object underlying the Act (whether that purpose or object is expressly stated in the Act or not) shall be preferred to a construction that would not promote that purpose or object.”

Rules of Statutory interpretation

The literal rule:

The Courts are to interpret the words used in an Act of Parliament literally

as far as they can, i.e they must give the words used in statutes the same meaning that they have in every day use.

Rules of Statutory interpretation

The Golden Rule:

• The courts may depart from a literal reading of the Act to prevent an

absurd result.

Rules of Statutory interpretation

The purpose approach:

• Where a literal interpretation is not

possible (e.g the words are

ambiguous) the court may interpret the statute according to the original

purpose or policy underlying its

enactment (Information behind Statute can be used in order to understand

what was meant to be achieved.)

General rules of interpretation

• Legislation is not intended to be

retrospective.

• Where there are several matters specifically dealt with by a statute, matters not stated are not intended to be covered.

• Where there is reference to both general and specific matters, the general matters are

limited to matters of a similar nature or class

General rules of interpretation

• Technical words used in a statute are to be given their technical meaning.

• If there is conflict between a general and a specific provision in the statute, the specific provision should receive precedence.

Citation of cases

• A case in support of a legal

principle is cited by quoting the names of the parties and giving

a reference to the law report

where the case can be found.

Example of citation of cases

Plaintiff (person bringing action)

Year case Volume Relevant