Hot Topics in Public Law (LAWS90217)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Online
Please refer to the return to campus page for more information on these delivery modes and students who can enrol in each mode based on their location.
About this subject
Contact information
Semester 2
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 6190
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Overview
| Availability(Quotas apply) | Semester 2 - Online |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
This subject canvasses 11 cutting edge issues in public law at an advanced level that requires deep analysis and critical thinking. While its primary focus is public law in Australia, many of the issues are relevant in common law systems elsewhere and comparative experiences are used to throw light on Australian law and practice. The issues range across constitutional and administrative law and include, for example, proportionality, non-statutory executive power, outsourcing and suits in negligence against government. Each seminar is led by one of Melbourne Law School’s leading experts in the field.
Principal topics are likely to include:
- Judging public law
- Non-statutory powers
- Outsourcing
- Consultation with Indigenous peoples
- Treaties and agreements with Indigenous peoples
- Actions against governments in negligence
- Proportionality
- History and constitutional adjudication
- Concurrent and exclusive legislative powers
- State bills of rights
- Emergency frameworks
- Future directions
The subject is coordinated by Jason Varuhas and Cheryl Saunders, who will ensure interlinkages between seminars and will draw the subject together in a final seminar on future directions. The subject should be of considerable interest to Australian students, to international students from common law countries and to all students curious about the latest developments in public law from a common law perspective.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have an advanced understanding of a range of issues across Australian public law
- Be able to engage critically with discussion and analysis in relation to each of those issues
- Be familiar with, and be able to apply to other contexts, insights from significant themes that run across one or more seminars including, for example, judicial method, interinstitutional tensions, and the challenges of pluralism
- Be well-placed to anticipate and apply analytical skills to other critical contemporary issues in Australian public law
- Understand the insights that can be derived for Australian law from comparative experience, properly applied
- Be aware of the extent to which common law legal systems share broadly comparable public law challenges, despite differences in context.
Generic skills
Generic skills that will be developed through successful completion of this subject include:
- A capacity to identify, understand and evaluate major new developments in public law
- The ability to think conceptually and analytically about challenges in public law
- The ability to think conceptually and analytically about the relationship between institutions in public law
- An appreciation of how principle and practice change over time and the ability to analyse how and why
- Advanced research skills in understanding and explaining problems in public law in sufficient detail to be reliable for the purposes of sustaining an argument
- An ability to think creatively about problems and solutions for complex challenges in public law
- Advanced skills in the application of comparative method
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Students must meet one of the following prerequisite options:
Option 1
Admission into a Melbourne Law Masters program
AND
Constitutional law, administrative law at the level of a first law degree.
Option 2
Admission into the MC-JURISD Juris Doctor
AND
All of
| Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAWS50028 | Constitutional Law | Semester 2 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
| LAWS50032 | Administrative Law | Semester 1 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Recommended background knowledge
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Take-home examination
| 12 - 15 November | 100% |
Research paper on a topic approved by the subject coordinator
| 17 November | 100% |
| Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance. | N/A |
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- Semester 2 - Online
Coordinators Cheryl Saunders and Jason Varuhas Mode of delivery Online Contact hours Total time commitment 150 hours Teaching period 26 July 2021 to 24 October 2021 Last self-enrol date 6 August 2021 Census date 31 August 2021 Last date to withdraw without fail 24 September 2021 Assessment period ends 19 November 2021 Semester 2 contact information
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 6190
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Additional delivery details
This subject has a quota of 30 students.
Enrolment is on a 'first in' basis. Waitlists are maintained for subjects that are fully subscribed.
Students should note priority of waitlisted places in subjects will be given as follows:
- To currently enrolled Graduate Diploma and Masters students with a satisfactory record in their degree
- To other students enrolling on a single subject basis, eg Community Access Program (CAP) students, cross-institutional study and cross-faculty study.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters website for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If required, please contact law-admissions@unimelb.edu.au for subject coordinator approval.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 3 November 2022