Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

An understanding of Constitutional Law is important for three reasons:
1. Its logical significance. As the Commonwealth Constitution is a 'higher' law, ordinary laws passed by Commonwealth or State Parliaments may depend on the Constitution for their validity. If supposed laws do not comply with the requirements of the Constitution the courts will not recognise them as valid laws.
2. Its political significance. Rules of Constitutional Law control what politicians and public servants can and cannot do.
3. Its practical significance for practising lawyers. Cases involving Constitutions do not just arise between the Crown Law officers of the Commonwealth and the States; some 70% involve a dispute between a private citizen or company, represented by private lawyers, and one of the governments.

Constitutional law is a core unit in the LLB course, and is required for admission to practice in all jurisdictions, across Australia.

Aims

The aim of the unit is to provide knowledge and understanding of the constitutional arrangements effected by the Commonwealth Constitution and the State Constitutions, including the structure and institutions of the Constitutions, the division of power between Commonwealth and States, and relations between the different levels of government. This unit also aims to further develop your legal research skills developed in previous law units.

Objectives

At the completion of this unit you should be able to:
1. Discuss Commonwealth and State constitutional law and how the interpretation and evolution of constitutional laws in Australia have been influenced by political, social and economic changes,(GC1) particularly as they relate to federal-state relations;
2. critically analyse and construct arguments for the way in which constitutional laws have and should evolve in response to changing social, political and economic contexts; (GC2)
3. use appropriate research strategies to locate and evaluate primary and secondary sources of constitutional case law, legislation and principles; (GC1, GC2)
4. identify, extract and evaluate constitutional law principles and policy and relevant contexts, including the specific rules of statutory interpretation that apply to Constitutions, to apply to real world problems and construct arguments for potential law reform; (GC1, GC2)
5. communicate legal and policy arguments and solutions to problems clearly and logically using the appropriate level and style of communication for the context; (GC3)
6. evaluate and reflect upon your own performance and development to recognise and correct gaps in knowledge and capabilities as relevant to this unit, future law units and your future professional studies. (GC4)
7. learn about areas of law through independent research. (GC5)

Content

The material covered in this unit includes:

• Principles of interpretation of the Commonwealth Constitution


• Nature and extent of selected heads of Commonwealth legislative power


• Distribution of financial powers between Commonwealth and States


• Aspects of Commonwealth executive and judicial power


• State legislative power


• Express and implied federal limits on Commonwealth and State powers

In this unit you will further develop your research skills which have been developed previously in LWB146 Legal Foundations B and LWB148 Torts B. Your research skills will be further developed in LWB244 Property Law B and LWB334 Corporations Law.

Graduate Capabilities
Your understanding of the unit content and the further development of these skills will assist you to acquire the following law graduate capabilities:
GC1. Discipline Knowledge;
GC2. Problem Solving, Reasoning and Research;
GC3. Effective Communication;
GC4. Life Long Learning;
GC5. Working Independently and Collaboratively.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

This unit is a combination of content and skills that will develop your graduate capabilities. The teaching and learning approach in this unit is a combination of lectures (to provide you with an understanding of the relevant law); tutorials (to allow you to practise your application of the law to fact scenarios and to develop your legal problem solving and communication skills) and independent, inquiry based learning.

Lectures
There will be two hour lectures from week 1 through to week 13. Lectures will be delivered in person and the audio of the lecture will also be made available via podcasts on the unit Blackboard site. Guest lectures may also be scheduled at various times throughout the semester. Lectures will contain an overview of the relevant law, including summaries of the key cases. They will be supported by the use of PowerPoint presentations, which will be available on the unit Blackboard site.

Case Readings
In Constitutional Law it is necessary to read the primary case material to learn and understand the law. To this end the reading for 4 weeks of tutorials will include a High Court decision on the relevant area of law. These case readings will be discussed in detail. These case readings will be supplemented by readings from relevant texts.

Tutorials
One and a half hour (90 minute) tutorials have been timetabled for weeks 2- 4 and 7-13. Tutorials will provide you with the opportunity to following:
1. A detailed facilitated discussion of the case reading in the 4 weeks in which there is a more in-depth case discussion; and
2. Practice applying the law to different scenarios by answering a series of problem questions. During tutorials, where appropriate, you will also participate in discussions of possible constitutional reform relating to the topics for that week, as well as a discussion of any constitutional reform ideas arising out of news reports from that week.
If you are an external student you will be provided with external tutorial tapes that will assist you with your learning.
You will be required to be prepared for the tutorials and be ready to discuss the issues raised. Preparation will include attending or listening to lectures and attempting the tutorial questions set down in the Study Guide for each week.

Inquiry Based Learning
You will learn part of the content of this unit by a process of inquiry based learning undertaken for your research assignment.

Optional External Attendance School
Mid-way in the semester there is an optional attendance school for external students where the skills of problem solving and exam techniques will be practised

Assessment

In this unit there is both formative assessment (to receive feedback on your learning) and summative assessment (to receive feedback and a mark).

Faculty Assessment Information
To access the Law Faculty Assessment Information see the Blackboard site for this unit.Formative assessment is designed to provide you with feedback on your development or attainment of understanding of constitutional law studied in this unit and the accompanying skills taught. In this unit you will receive formative feedback prior to the end of semester exam through:
1. The face-to-face tutorials (internal students);
2. The external school (external students);
3. The individual written feedback on your external exercise (external students);
4. The individual written feedback on your research assignment and methodology;
5. The generic feedback on the research assignment and methodology placed on the unit's Blackboard site;
6. The option of private consultation with a member of the teaching team during student consultation; and
7. Examples of assessment items available on the unit's Blackboard site.

All of the formative assessment you receive links with objective 6.

Self Reflection
You should reflect upon the feedback (both your individual and generic feedback as provided on Blackboard) for the purpose of identifying:
1. gaps in your knowledge and understanding of the legal principles;
2. inadequacies in your legal research skills;
3. strategies to improve your oral and written communication skills in further assessment;
4. strategies to improve your legal research skills; and
5. areas for improvement for future studies within the LLB.

You should record your work, the feedback and your reflection, noting your strategies for improvement, in your Student ePortfolio. This links with objective 6.

Assessment name: Discussion Forum (Tutorials)
Description: Internal students will be assessed on their preparation for, participation in and contribution to discussions, analysis, problem solving and skills exercises in tutorials throughout the semester.
Relates to objectives: 1-6
Weight: 10%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Weeks 2-13

Assessment name: External Exercise
Description: This exercise requires you to submit a written answer to a specified question and a reflection on your progress in the research assignment.
Word limit: 1000 words.
Relates to objectives: 1-6
Weight: 10%
Internal or external: External
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 5

Assessment name: Assignment
Description: The research assignment and research methodology will require you to write an essay on a prescribed topic. The topic will be chosen to allow you to critically analyse an area of constitutional law of current significance, including one or more significant constitutional law decisions. The research assignment and methodology will assess your skills of researching and evaluating various legal sources, extracting and analysing constitutional law principles, constructing arguments using law and policy and legal writing.
Relates to objectives: 1-7
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Both
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 9

Assessment name: Examination
Description: There will be a compulsory end of semester exam. The exam will be of 2 hours duration with 30 minutes perusal time and it will be open book. All topics of the unit will be examinable.
Relates to objectives: 1-5
Weight: 50%
Internal or external: Both
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Central Exam Period

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Prescribed Materials
John Pyke, Constitutional Law (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
Helen Irving, Five Things to Know about the Australian Constitution (Cambridge University Press, 2004)

Reference Materials
Patrick Keyzer, Principles of Australian Constitutional Law (LexisNexis Butterworths, Sydney: 3rd ed, 2010).
J Jennifer Clarke, P Patrick Keyzer and J James Stellios, Hanks' Australian Constitutional Law: Materials and Commentary (LexisNexis Butterworths, Sydney: 8th ed, 2009).
Peter Hanks, Frances Gordon and Graeme Hill, Constitutional Law in Australia (LexisNexis Butterworths, Sydney: 3rd ed, 2012)
Sarah Joseph and Melissa Castan, Federal Constitutional Law: A Contemporary View, 3rd ed, (Lawbook Co, Sydney:, 2010).
T Tony Blackshield and G George Williams, Australian Constitutional Law and Theory: Commentary and Materials (Federation Press,Sydney: 4th ed, 2006).
G Gabriel A Moens and J John Trone, Lumb & Moens', The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia Annotated (LexisNexis Butterworths, Sydney: 7th ed, 2007).
G Winterton, HP Lee, A Glass, JA Thomson and P Gerangelos, Australian Federal Constitutional Law: Commentary and Materials (Lawbook Co, Sydney: 2nd ed, 2007).

Blackboard site
Online resources for this unit are available on the unit blackboard site.

Risk assessment statement

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 29-Oct-2012