Introduction to Legal Studies

Customs are:

• Written down for clarity

• An expectation of behaviour within a community

• Always learnt from parents

• Always fair and reasonable

Rules are:

• Specific to an area or situation

• Expressed only through symbols

• Made to be broken

• Recommendations but there is no punishment if you break a rule

Laws are:

• Written by a sovereign power

• Apply to everyone within the community

• Important to ensure society functions well

• All of the above

Which of the statements do not apply to anarchy?

• There are no rules or laws

• It often happens after a natural disaster or revolution

• Anarchy occurs when there is no one to enforce the law

• Anarchy only occurs in undeveloped/underdeveloped countries

The legislative branch of government is responsible for:

• Making laws

• Enforcing laws

• Resolving legal disputes

• What happens in government departments

The Executive branch of the government is responsible for:

• Resolving legal disputes

• Selecting the Prime Minister

• Making laws

• Enacting laws

The judicial branch of the government:

• Resolves legal disputes

• Interprets statutes

• Uses precedent to help inform decisions

• Creates their own laws

Representative government is

• When people are elected to parliament to represent their electorate

• When people are elected at regular intervals

• An important part of a democracy

• All of the above

Responsible government means:

• That ministers are held accountable for what happens in their government department

• Government can be trusted until there is another election

• That there is no changing the Prime Minister part way through a term in office

• Everyone in parliament has to follow the same laws as everyone else

Aboriginal Australian Customary Law:

• Has nothing to do with the Dreamtime Stories

• Is written down

• Is based on "payback"

• Varies from country to country or tribe to tribe