Internal Code: TV209
Research Report Writing Assignment:
Task:
You are required to put together a Report on Victoria and Australia’s Law-Making Systems & Legal Structures, including a comparison with the systems and structures of your own country.
The report is to be prepared in two parts as follows.
Part A
Write a report about the legal systems and structures of Australia and the state of Victoria. The report should focus on the following areas:
1. The Constitution
• Relationship between States and Commonwealth
• Remunerated and residual powers
• The Governor General and Governor
2. Legislature - Law-Making Systems
• Type of system – democracy / monarchy / communist / other - Representative government
• Structure of Parliament
• Electorates and election procedures
• Processes for passing legislation
3. Judiciary
• Names of Courts and court hierarchy
• Court jurisdictions - original / appellate, Criminal / Civil, State / Federal - types of cases heard by each court
• Types of legal personnel (judges, juries, lawyers)
• An explanation of the adversarial system
• Doctrine of Precedent and the creation of Common Law
4. Executive
• Prime Minister and Ministers
• Role of the executive
• Government departments and public servants
Part B
Make a comparison of the key parts of Australia’s Law-Making Systems & Legal Structures compared to that of your country. Particularly focus on the areas that have your have examined in part A of this assignment. Also mention any other points of difference such and Head of State, death penalty, etc. This comparison can be presented in written paragraphs, chart or dot-point format.