LAWS11057 - Introduction to Law

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit introduces you to the Australian legal system, its institutions, processes and sources of law. It explores foundational principles and concepts, such as the Westminster system of governance, rule of law, doctrine of precedent and principles of statutory interpretation to provide you with insight into how the Australian legal system functions. The unit explores thinking, researching and communicating like a lawyer through the development of legal, ethical and technological literacy and a range of legal skills, which provides a foundation for your future law studies.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 20%
2. Written Assessment 30%
3. Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 92.31% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 20% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Reflection of the teaching team, student feedback
Feedback
Week 4, which looks at legislation and statutory interpretation, and week 5, which looks at the court hierarchy and the doctrine of precedent, are very dense.
Recommendation
Move some of the content in week 1 to an 'orientation' tile or provide the content via a video/guide as part of the unit overview. This will allow for foundational information from weeks 4 and 5 (the structure of the legal system, what law is, the court hierarchy, and the legislative process) to be explored at a foundational level in week 1, which will reduce the amount of content in weeks 4 and 5.
Action Taken
No action was taken as this will be addressed in the rewrite of the unit for 2024
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Students should have significantly more time to complete the problem solving assessment, which is conducted as a take home paper.
Recommendation
A take home paper must be retained for compliance with accreditation requirements. The nature of this assessment, a problem solving exercise, should be retained as it assesses students' problem solving skills and knowledge of statutory interpretation and precedent using primary sources. However, students should be given a minimum of 7 days to review the legislative provisions and cases that will be the subject of the take home paper assessment so that they do not need to complete any reading in the time permitted for the take home paper.
Action Taken
Students were given sufficient time to review the legislation and case law before the assessment
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
The assessment on corporations law was challenging
Recommendation
Review assessment to ensure the area of law covered in the assessment is not too challenging for first year students
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator reflection
Feedback
The favourable student feedback suggests the unit should continue to focus on developing practical and useful skills
Recommendation
Continue to offer the unit with a focus on building practical legal skills
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Analyse sources of law, legal institutions and processes, and the principles of professional ethical responsibility.
  2. Apply the rules of precedent and principles of statutory interpretation to a practical scenario.
  3. Conduct legal research and communicate effectively both orally and in writing.

Written Assessment 3 will be conducted as a take home paper around week 11.  Students who are studying Accounting will be invigilated to ensure compliance with the Accounting body's requirements.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
3 - Written Assessment • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication •
2 - Problem Solving •
3 - Critical Thinking •
4 - Information Literacy •
5 - Team Work •
6 - Information Technology Competence •
8 - Ethical practice • •
9 - Social Innovation •
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10