M3 - Learner Manual

Tranby Library

Some suggested introductory resources for this Block that are available at the Tranby library include:

Introductory general legal text

Carvan, J.(2009) Understanding the Australian Legal System, Law Book Co, Sydney.

Redfern Legal Centre Publishing (2009) The Law Handbook NSW, Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, Sydney

Saunders, Cheryl. (2003)  It's your constitution : governing Australia today,  Federation Press, Annandale, N.S.W.

Waller, L., Maher, FKH, & Derham, D., (1995) An introduction to the law (7th edition), LBC, Sydney.

Crawford, J & Opeskin, B., (2004) Australian Courts of Law, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.

Introductory Indigenous legal texts

Behrendt, L., Cunneen, C., and Libesman T., (2009), Indigenous Legal Relations in Australia, Oxford University Press, Sydney

Stephenson, MA., and  Ratnapala, S.,  (eds) (1993) Mabo: A Judicial Revolution: The Aboriginal Land Rights Decision and its Impact on Australian Law , St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.

Bennett, S., (1999) White Politics and Black Australians, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW.

Havemann, P., (Ed) (1999) Indigenous People’s Rights in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, Oxford University Press, Auckland.

Anthony, T., Beacroft, L., Brennan, S., Davis, M., Janke, T., McRae, H., Nettheim., G., (2009) Indigenous Legal Issues: Commentary and Materials (4th edition) LBC, Sydney.

Internet Resources

The internet is a valuable legal study resource. The following is a guide to some legal search engines and sites that students should consult during the course.

Legal databases – that have primary resources, such as legislation, cases and ancillary documents. Please see the following examples.

Austlii

·      What is Austlii?

“The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) provides free internet access to Australian legal materials. AustLII's broad public policy agenda is to improve access to justice through better access to information. To that end, we have become one of the largest sources of legal materials on the net, with over seven gigabytes of raw text materials and over 1.5 million searchable documents.

AustLII publishes public legal information -- that is, primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access (law reform and royal commission reports for example). You will find these materials listed under AustLII Databases.

AustLII maintains its own collections of primary materials: legislation and court judgements ("case law"). Some legal training or familiarity with the subject matter is sometimes required to make use of these documents.

Alternatively, AustLII also has a collection of secondary materials: commentaries and summaries on the law. This includes large projects such as the Reconciliation and Social Justice Library, the reports of the Australian Law Reform Commission and many others”.[1]

• Please see: www.austlii.edu.au

The Federal Register of Legislation

·      What is the Federal Register of Legislation?  Formerly known as ComLaw, the Federal Register of Legislation:

“… has the most complete and up-to-date collection of Commonwealth legislation and includes notices from the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette from 1 October 2012”.[2]

• Please see: http://www.legislation.gov.au

Attorney General’s Department

·      At this site you will find:

“ information on Australia's legal system and access to justice. Find out about legal aid and other assistance programs, contract and administrative law, native title, dispute resolution and the courts.”

·      See: http://www.ag.gov.au/LegalSystem/Pages/default.aspx