Lecture Two - The Legal System in Australia & It's Court System

The legal system in Australia is derived from the British system. It has a separation of power.

Separation of Power

• Judiciary (courts) - Interprets the law
• Legislature (parliaments) - makes the law
• Executive (government and public service) - puts the law into operation. 

Common law is also known as judge-made law or case law. It's the unwritten laws derived from the traditional law of England, which has been developed by the courts. (Common Law made over centuries)

The High Court is the highest court in Australia. 

The high court can change the outcome of a case they are not bound to determining the outcome of a case by looking at previous cases. The high court can reappraise its decisions in terms of common convenience and welfare of society. 

The High Court can reinterpret legal principles, i.e. the High Court can re-adapt laws to suit a changing society. 

Why is the concept of Precedence so important for journalists to understand? (Tutorial Question) 

Criminal law 

Criminal Law acts are wrongs that are considered so serious as to be an offense against the whole community. 

Civil Law 

Are all the laws that are not covered by criminal law. (from road accidents to libel actions) 

Civil actions can be settled by a judge or magistrate alone. 

Copyrights (Commonwealth law)

Defamation (State law) 

Quasi-Judicial Bodies - Can be a temporary or permanent commission. Staff of investigation and commissioners. They are given the power to interview, record. A report is put together that provides recommendations to the government that is than taken into consideration. 

Alternative dispute resolution - Arbitration, negotiation and mediation, cheaper alternatives, no court involved. Not a public case, it's done behind closed doors in a meeting style setting. 

Court hierarchies are important to understand because of the Doctrine of Precedent. 

Law of Precedent - 'Stand by the thing decided and do not disturb the calm'

NM2301 - Introduction to Web Design

Skills from this subject enable you to develop skills in website design, creation and assessment.

Develop skills in front end website development. 
Develop skills in collaborating with IT people to create more complicated websites.

• First assignment a simple functional website - Assignment 1 Due Thursday March 26. (Week 2) (20%)
• Develop an eCommerce site. (Week 4) (50%)
• Research Project - Design documents for a portfolio website, creative, commercial or a journalism oriented site. Research and develop a design mock-up on the system. (30%) 

The complexity of the Web design space in the industry is managed through collaboration. 

We do the same thing. 

Benefits

Concentrate on your area of study while getting introduced to other disciplines. 

Technologies

• Apple MAC (Or PC with DW CS6) 
• HTML and CSS
• IT contributed skills in: PHP, JavaScript and CSS. 

Website Design ~ A fusion of graphic design, information architecture and navigation design. 

The Journalist's Guide to Media Law - Chapter 3 - Freedom of the Press

Freedom of the Press was a movement that began with the invention of the printing press.

The book mentions official censorship was imposed via a licensing system for printers that had been introduced in 1530. The first major backlash against this came in 1644, when political philosopher and poet John Milton penned Areopagitica, a speech to the parliament appealing for freedom of the press.

The Foundation of freedom of the press was laid in England during the 16th and 17th centuries (Milton and Locke).

In the US liberal ideals expounded by men similar to Milton and Locke found their way into the first ammendment to the US Constitution has enshrined freedom of the press to this day:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

In Australia there is no equivalent to the First Amendment to the US Constitution to allow freedom of the press. However, in recent years the high Court of Australia handed down a series of decisions recognising an implied freedom to communicate on matters of government.

The first sort of ammendment to allow Freedom of Speech in Australia was in the 1990s. The High Court ruled the Australian Constitution contains an implied, but limited, right to freedom of speech on topics of political discussion.

The chapter covers allot of areas mainly through looking at cases over the years.

• The 1994: Establishing a constitutional defence to defamation.
• The 1997 decisions: Reaffirming free speech but refining the interpretation.
• 2011: Free speech versus privacy.
• 2002: Political free speech and defamation - one or two defences. 

Press Freedom was tested during the era of terrorism. The terrorist attacks lead the US to develop the USA Patriot Act of 2001.

In Australia anti-terrorism legislation has included restrictions on reporting evidence of the activities of ASIO, communicating with terrorist organisations, reporting the existence of detention orders, new surveillance and phone-tapping powers, a rebirth of the ancient law of sedition - which prohibits the criticism of the government.

Internationally Iceland and Finland have the highest in media freedom, while Burma, Turkmenistan and North Korea occupy the bottom three places of the 195 countries assessed. 

Press Freedom Organisations: Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists, World Press Freedom Committee.