HSC Legal Studies Question Thread

[pokemonlv10]

Do we have the right to legal aid? Is it not included in the constitution?

[rodero]

Do we have the right to legal aid? Is it not included in the constitution?

It isn't mentioned in the Constitution. However, it is a limited right under common law. The case of R v Dietrich established that people have a limited right to legal aid, if there is potential for injustice to occur

[_bm77]

Hi guys i have a few questions.

1. what does a generic family Law essay include? I am currently so confused as i have made essays for all the contemporary issues however i have not made one for the generic family essay.
With the generic family essay do i include contemporary issues or is it another part  of the syllabus?
2. How do i assess compliance and non compliance? do i use legal and non legal or the effectiveness criteria?
3.  Also With a family essay do i have to do legal and non-legal responses? because I am finding it hard to find non-legal responses for family essays?
4.  what does 'duress' mean?
5. what do i talk about in a generic consumer essay? do i pick points of the syllabus or...? (this is the same for family)

i am doing HSC btw
Also your atar legal studies book is very helful, great job!!

[sidzeman]

Does anyone have any cases regarding safety for workplace, besides Zujis

[justdoit]

Hi guys i have a few questions.

1. what does a generic family Law essay include? I am currently so confused as i have made essays for all the contemporary issues however i have not made one for the generic family essay.
With the generic family essay do i include contemporary issues or is it another part  of the syllabus?
2. How do i assess compliance and non compliance? do i use legal and non legal or the effectiveness criteria?
3.  Also With a family essay do i have to do legal and non-legal responses? because I am finding it hard to find non-legal responses for family essays?
4.  what does 'duress' mean?
5. what do i talk about in a generic consumer essay? do i pick points of the syllabus or...? (this is the same for family)

i am doing HSC btw
Also your atar legal studies book is very helful, great job!!

1- i think the law responding to changing nature of families is a pretty good umbrella essay as you could talk about almost everything
2-in regards to compliance, its best to mention statistics of effectiveness, statute laws and also non-gov and media that promote compliance, and vice versa for non-complaince, however, the trick with non-compliance is that you have to mention how the law has responded to it eg domestic violence.
3-non-legal responses should be super simple! you got the media that publicises any non-compliance eg baby gammy case in regards to surrogacy, youve got family dispute reolution centres that help solve disputes, youve got government initiatives such as family nsw that advises families through their website!.
4-duress is an act committed under force or threat by another party!
5-i just wrote about the protection of consumers and yeah its wise to include a contemporary issue!

[rodero]

Hi guys i have a few questions.

1. what does a generic family Law essay include? I am currently so confused as i have made essays for all the contemporary issues however i have not made one for the generic family essay.
With the generic family essay do i include contemporary issues or is it another part  of the syllabus?
2. How do i assess compliance and non compliance? do i use legal and non legal or the effectiveness criteria?
3.  Also With a family essay do i have to do legal and non-legal responses? because I am finding it hard to find non-legal responses for family essays?
4.  what does 'duress' mean?
5. what do i talk about in a generic consumer essay? do i pick points of the syllabus or...? (this is the same for family)

i am doing HSC btw
Also your atar legal studies book is very helful, great job!!

1. A generic family law essay does not specify a dot point, but rather allows you to mention a variety of them. This is mainly the case with a theme/challenge centered essay, such as "Evaluate the effectiveness of law reform in achieving just outcomes". That's really generic and branches off into almost every single syllabus dot point, so you get to pick what works best
2. Effectiveness criteria works hand-in-hand with compliance. For instance for domestic violence, if people aren't complying to the ADVO, then it's ineffective.
3. The question could specifically ask for a non-legal response, but even if it isn't asked it is usually expected that you integrate it. For separation of custody there is Dad's in Distress, for Domestic Violence there is Never Alone, for same-sex marriage there is Marriage Equality. If you need a specific one let me know!
4. Duress means that you've been forced to commit a crime against your free will. Think of blackmail as an example of duress. You've been forced by another person to commit the crime, so if you can prove this, you're technically innocent!
5. Generic consumer law essays are the same as family in that it doesn't specify a syllabus dot point so you can choose what works best for the question

EDIT: Haha just saw that justdoit also posted! Double the help I guess. Good work legal team

[Lachlan Morley]

Thank you! that really clarifies my question

Not a problem, if you have any more questions let me know

[jamonwindeyer]

GO LEGAL EAGLES! You guys are seriously incredible, thanks to everyone chiming in and helping out!

[[MA165]]

hey!
i am very worried about the crime essay as crime is probably my weakest part (and it has the most weighting) 
but if it is on law reform as predicted, what would be some major points to include in your essay?
i know about bail laws and the mandatory sentencing of one punch attacks but that is about all!!
thankyou so much for any help in advance!!!

[rodero]

hey!
i am very worried about the crime essay as crime is probably my weakest part (and it has the most weighting) 
but if it is on law reform as predicted, what would be some major points to include in your essay?
i know about bail laws and the mandatory sentencing of one punch attacks but that is about all!!
thankyou so much for any help in advance!!!

That's literally what I have too! No need to stress Other points that I would include would be the Provocation Amendment, which has changed the criteria of provocation to 'Extreme Provocation'. This was in response to the lenient case of R v Singh. You can argue that this is effective as it prevents the regularity of violent spouses murdering their partner in a jealous rage.

Another good piece of reform would be the Jury Amendment (Verdicts) Act. Rather than requiring a unanimous 12:0 vote, a 10:2 or 11:1 vote can satisfy a conviction. This links well to balancing rights of parties, as you can argue that reducing the criteria allows for less hung juries, thus saving the trauma of victims reliving the crime in constant re-trails, as well as saving taxpayers in millions of dollars. On the contrary, reducing the criteria has hampered the standard of 'beyond reasonable doubt', resulting in injustice for the accused.

These reforms and the ones you have already should have you set for a law reform question!

[Korrasami]

hey!
i am very worried about the crime essay as crime is probably my weakest part (and it has the most weighting) 
but if it is on law reform as predicted, what would be some major points to include in your essay?
i know about bail laws and the mandatory sentencing of one punch attacks but that is about all!!
thankyou so much for any help in advance!!!

I mentioned covert search warrants which allows police to search the premises of a suspected offender without warning. it was introduced in 2009

[Vinnnnnnyyyyyy]

Can someone please explain the Bail Act amendments?

[rodero]

Can someone please explain the Bail Act amendments?

The main one you need to know is the Bail Amendment Act 2013, which introduced the "unacceptable risk" test. In this same amendment though, they removed the "presumption against bail" for murder charges. So essentially, prior to the amendment, anyone who commit murder would be denied bail. Under the new amendment, a person who commit murder can be given bail if they pass the unacceptable risk test. This led to majorly controversial cases such as Steve Fesus, Hahmoud Hawi, and most importantly Man Monis, who commit the Lindt Cafe Siege while on bail.

The Bail Amendment Act 2015, though not as important, was in response to Man Monis' siege. It has amended the provision of bail for terrorist related activities. It added the 'show cause' requirement, so accused persons must show cause for serious indictable offences

[rachelmassar]

what legislation is product certification covered in?
tia.

part 3-3 of the the ACL (contained in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (cth)) details mandatory product safety and information standards. But product certification is also associated with non-legal regulations such as major certification marks, like 'CE' that are internationally recognised and have a standard of quality established for products to be certified.

[emilybrooks99]

How many media articles are expected in an essay? And is making them up really an option - will the markers know?