HSC Legal Studies Question Thread

[maria1999]

hey guys!
I just got a legal studies task notification on family law and it is about evaluating the effectiveness of the law in achieving justice for family members. Just as a rule of thumb kinda thing, are we allowed to refer to other states when doing family law? One of the options for this question is the recognition of same sex couples and I know the recognition of rights for same sex couples vary considerably from state to state. (i.e South Australia and Tasmania) Do I need to keep it to New South Wales? or can I discuss this is the response?
Thanks in advance!!

[MisterNeo]

hey guys!
I just got a legal studies task notification on family law and it is about evaluating the effectiveness of the law in achieving justice for family members. Just as a rule of thumb kinda thing, are we allowed to refer to other states when doing family law? One of the options for this question is the recognition of same sex couples and I know the recognition of rights for same sex couples vary considerably from state to state. (i.e South Australia and Tasmania) Do I need to keep it to New South Wales? or can I discuss this is the response?
Thanks in advance!!

Hi! You should be able to refer to all around Australia for cases on same-sex couples because the most widely used cases are Croome v Tasmania and Toonen v Australia, which are not specific to NSW. The focus should still build around NSW's role in achieving justice with references and supporting evidence from other states to show understanding.
Obvs, you wouldn't use other states' legislation in other topics like Crime because they are quite different from state to state.
Hope this helps

[jamonwindeyer]

How would one answer this question:
"Outline the role of the Family Court of Australia in Australia’s legal system"

Hey! An outline just means the main features. So, think about the key things the Family Court does in Australia - What sort of cases do they hear? What allows them to do this? And perhaps an example - That would be the absolute most you'd have to do for that question!

Note, you won't ever have to deal with small mark questions like that for your Options, not in HSC exams at least, because you only write essays for the Options!

[Lachlan Morley]

Hi all

Whats everyones thoughts for how many elements of criteria to use for a world order essay

[maria1999]

Hi! You should be able to refer to all around Australia for cases on same-sex couples because the most widely used cases are Croome v Tasmania and Toonen v Australia, which are not specific to NSW. The focus should still build around NSW's role in achieving justice with references and supporting evidence from other states to show understanding.
Obvs, you wouldn't use other states' legislation in other topics like Crime because they are quite different from state to state.
Hope this helps

Yes it definitely does!, I think we touched on those cases in class so I'll definitely look into them further, thank so much!!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi all

Whats everyones thoughts for how many elements of criteria to use for a world order essay

Hey! Do you mean criteria for evaluating effectiveness, like accessible, enforceable, etc?

I'd say that's pretty free to what works for you, even just one or two would be enough - They don't have to form a huge part of how you structure your essay unless you want them too, so as long as you are using them in some capacity then it more comes down to the quality of your examples

[maria1999]

hey everyone!
I was looking for some guidance on a 25 mark essay. We actually haven't done many in legal yet, only the 15 markers and so I was wondering around how many cases. legislations and files as such you would need to ideally use for a solid response. Its on family law and should strictly be 1200 words.

[elysepopplewell]

hey everyone!
I was looking for some guidance on a 25 mark essay. We actually haven't done many in legal yet, only the 15 markers and so I was wondering around how many cases. legislations and files as such you would need to ideally use for a solid response. Its on family law and should strictly be 1200 words.

Hey there! It is difficult to approach a 25 marker for the first time. I felt this way when I did my first essay for SOR, but in Legal I had done assessment tasks that had more or less asked me to break down an essay, so it felt more bite sized! How many cases and legislation and what not is always hard to define. If you told me you used 3 cases in your essay I'd think that's pretty solid, but it really depends what you do with them. You might just be using a case to say it set a precedent, or you might be using a case as a great example of exactly how the law is applied. In each body paragraph, I'd aim to use a case or a significant statistic just as a way of proving your point. in every case. Don't forget to incorporate the themes and challenges too - so often they are overlooked but they are great for improving the sophistication of your work. I wrote a guide to break them down here.

Also, Jamon state-ranked in legal and he wrote about how he did exactly that here and it has a section on formulating arguments, which will be good for you to read!

[maria1999]

hiya!
This is such a stupid question but I was wondering what exactly the difference was between the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Committee. I'm reading through statistics and apparently they are not the same thing. Is one legal or the other non-legal or are they both government bodies. Thanks in advance!

[maria1999]

Hey there! It is difficult to approach a 25 marker for the first time. I felt this way when I did my first essay for SOR, but in Legal I had done assessment tasks that had more or less asked me to break down an essay, so it felt more bite sized! How many cases and legislation and what not is always hard to define. If you told me you used 3 cases in your essay I'd think that's pretty solid, but it really depends what you do with them. You might just be using a case to say it set a precedent, or you might be using a case as a great example of exactly how the law is applied. In each body paragraph, I'd aim to use a case or a significant statistic just as a way of proving your point. in every case. Don't forget to incorporate the themes and challenges too - so often they are overlooked but they are great for improving the sophistication of your work. I wrote a guide to break them down here.

Also, Jamon state-ranked in legal and he wrote about how he did exactly that here and it has a section on formulating arguments, which will be good for you to read!

Thanks Elyse! I'll try and pick 3 cases which are solid and then build the essay around that. I'll also definitely have a read of the articles you and Jamon wrote! Thanks so much!

[elysepopplewell]

hiya!
This is such a stupid question but I was wondering what exactly the difference was between the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Committee. I'm reading through statistics and apparently they are not the same thing. Is one legal or the other non-legal or are they both government bodies. Thanks in advance!

Not a stupid question! The Human Rights Committee is the OHCHR, which is an independent body that looks specifically at the way the ICCPR is being implemented by states. The OHCHR also considers complaints that states make about each other, and they can investigate these. The Australian Human Rights Commission is within Australia, whereas the OHCHR is more global. It was established in 1986 (had to google that), so they are statutory, but independent, and they report back through the Attorney-General. I've taken this directly from their website:

Our statutory responsibilities include:

-education and public awareness
-discrimination and human rights complaints
-human rights compliance
-policy and legislative development.

We do this through:
-resolving complaints of discrimination or breaches of human rights under federal laws
-holding public inquiries into human rights issues of national importance
-developing human rights education programs and resources for schools, workplaces and the community
-providing independent legal advice to assist courts in cases that involve human rights principles
-providing advice and submissions to parliaments and governments to develop laws, policies and programs
-undertaking and coordinating research into human rights and discrimination issues.

[maria1999]

Not a stupid question! The Human Rights Committee is the OHCHR, which is an independent body that looks specifically at the way the ICCPR is being implemented by states. The OHCHR also considers complaints that states make about each other, and they can investigate these. The Australian Human Rights Commission is within Australia, whereas the OHCHR is more global. It was established in 1986 (had to google that), so they are statutory, but independent, and they report back through the Attorney-General. I've taken this directly from their website:

Our statutory responsibilities include:

-education and public awareness
-discrimination and human rights complaints
-human rights compliance
-policy and legislative development.

We do this through:
-resolving complaints of discrimination or breaches of human rights under federal laws
-holding public inquiries into human rights issues of national importance
-developing human rights education programs and resources for schools, workplaces and the community
-providing independent legal advice to assist courts in cases that involve human rights principles
-providing advice and submissions to parliaments and governments to develop laws, policies and programs
-undertaking and coordinating research into human rights and discrimination issues.

Thanks so much Elyse!! So glad to finally know the difference ahaha

[Bubbly_bluey]

Hi! I have an essay that requires to "Evaluate the effectiveness of the legal and non-legal responses in achieving justice for recognition of same sex relationships." I've found cases, media legislations etc.. but I'm having trouble on how I should go about to structuring this essay.
Thanks

[elysepopplewell]

Hi! I have an essay that requires to "Evaluate the effectiveness of the legal and non-legal responses in achieving justice for recognition of same sex relationships." I've found cases, media legislations etc.. but I'm having trouble on how I should go about to structuring this essay.
Thanks

Hey! You have some choices here You could structure this by looking into individual legal and then non-legal issues one by one. Or, you could pick a topic, let's say adoption/surrogacy, and then tease that topic out by applying the legal and non-legal measures, and then move to the next topic. So it really depends on your research and how you think it would be best to structure it. Personally, I would go with the topic-based approach because that's how I feel most comfortable arguing the effectiveness, by applying the legal and non-legal measures together rather than in isolation

[Diala]

Hey there I had an essay about Australia's federal government and its responses to World Order issues (how effective) but silly me, I forgot to mention state sovereignty and how that hinders the role of Australia! Is that a deduction of marks in your opinion? I wrote about ineffectiveness in being able to enforce certain things etc. but I didn't directly talk about state sovereignty. What do you think?