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Current Issues in Administrative Law (LAWS70201)
Graduate coursework level 7Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
Contact information
September
Lecturers
Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO, Coordinator
The Hon Justice Debbie Mortimer
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 6190
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Overview
| Availability(Quotas apply) | September |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
This could not be a more interesting and important time to engage with some of the most challenging issues in administrative law. Australian administrative law has undergone rapid change in recent years. In significant respects it has diverged from the rest of the common law world, under the influence of the Australian Constitution. Some of the resulting doctrines are not yet in a settled state. At the same time, however, administrative law continues to play the critical role in mediating relations between people and the institutions of government that in Australia’s case is heightened by the absence of systemic arrangements for the legal protection of individual rights. The two lecturers in the subject bring a combination of practical and scholarly perspectives to bear on the selected topics, all of which are chosen for their contemporary relevance
The subject will focus on key themes in Australian administrative law, which are likely to include:
- Jurisdictional error; the related notion of invalidity
- Unreasonableness, irrationality and illogicality
- Procedural fairness
- Boundaries of judicial review
- Constitutionalisation of administrative law.
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Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have an advanced and integrated understanding of administrative law in the context of Australian government, including recent developments administrative law and practice
- Be able to critically examine, analyse, interpret and assess the effectiveness of laws, institutions and practices in the field of administrative law
- Be an engaged participant in debates on administrative law, institutions and practices in the Australian and other common law legal systems
- Have a sophisticated appreciation of the factors and processes that drive legislative and doctrinal change in administrative law
- Have a sophisticated understanding of the interrelationship between administrative law and human rights protection
- Be aware, at an advanced level, of the impacts of constitutionalisation and internationalisation on administrative law
- Have the cognitive and technical skills to generate critical and creative ideas relating to administrative law and to critically evaluate existing theories, principles and practices
- Have the cognitive and technical skills to independently examine, research and analyse existing and emerging legal questions in the field of administrative law
- Have the communication skills to clearly articulate and convey complex information regarding administrative law to relevant specialist and non-specialist audiences.
Last updated: 3 November 2022