Designing Effective Legislation (LAWS90277)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
Contact information
May
Lecturer
The Hon Justice David Goddard (Coordinator)
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: 13 MELB (13 6352), International: +(61 3) 9035 5511
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Overview
| Availability(Quotas apply) | May |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
This subject focuses on the effectiveness of legislation. Legislation plays a fundamental, and ever more significant, role in our legal systems. Many lawyers and policy analysts advise on or develop proposals for legislative change. But this is often done without explicit frameworks for assessing the effectiveness of legislation, the ways in which legislation has failed or risks failing, and strategies and design options for reducing the risk of failure.
This course explores what it means for legislation to be effective. It takes as its starting point the critical analysis of failed laws, identifying common process errors and design flaws that contribute to such failures. It explores some common criticisms of legislation: that it is too uncertain, too prescriptive, too inflexible, too complex. It moves on to explore law reform strategies and legislative design options that can reduce the risk of failure, and the institutional prerequisites for those design options to be effective. Particular attention is paid to the challenges of designing legislation in the context of imperfect information and a changing environment, including the implications of technological change and the opportunities and challenges of automated decision-making, including use of algorithms and AI.
The subject will be of considerable interest to Australian and international students with an interest in the law reform and policy process. It is especially well suited to students with practical experience in these fields.
Principal topics will include:
- What it means for legislation to be effective,
- Approaches to assessing the effectiveness of legislation,
- Analysing the nature and causes of legislative failure,
- Understanding interdependencies between legislation and the institutions that apply it,
- Strategies for enhancing the effectiveness of legislation,
- Complex legislation: causes of complexity and design options for reducing complexity,
- Designing legislation for an uncertain and changing world.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject should be able to:
- Examine the reasons why existing or proposed legislation risks failing to achieve its policy objectives,
- Recognise and apply a wide set of legislative design methodologies and strategies ,
- Analyse and assess the interdependencies between legislation and its accompanying institutional setting,
- Formulate strategies that reduce the risk of law reform processes failing to achieve their policy objectives,
- Deliver insightful and practical recommendations for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of legislative initiatives.
Generic skills
- The ability to think conceptually and analytically about the objectives and effectiveness of legislation,
- The ability to think conceptually and analytically about the interdependencies between laws and their institutional settings,
- An appreciation of the relationship between flexibility, complexity and certainty in legal frameworks,
- An appreciation of the implications for law-making of imperfect information and social and technological change,
- The ability to think creatively about complex challenges in designing effective legislation.
Last updated: 8 November 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Corequisites
Non-allowed subjects
Recommended background knowledge
A law degree, or experience working in policy analysis or government relations. This subject will require experience in reading and analysing complex legislation. Professional experience working with legislation will be a strong advantage.
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: 8 November 2024
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Class participation | Throughout the teaching period | 10% |
Group in-class presentation
| During the teaching period | 20% |
Research paper on a topic approved by the subject coordinator
| 24 July 2024 | 70% |
| Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance is required. | N/A |
Last updated: 8 November 2024
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- May
Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Total time commitment 150 hours Pre teaching start date 17 April 2024 Pre teaching requirements Please refer to the Reading Guide on the LMS subject page for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 15 May 2024 to 21 May 2024 Last self-enrol date 22 April 2024 Census date 16 May 2024 Last date to withdraw without fail 21 June 2024 Assessment period ends 24 July 2024 May contact information
Lecturer
The Hon Justice David Goddard (Coordinator)
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: 13 MELB (13 6352), International: +(61 3) 9035 5511
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
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: 8 November 2024
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-masters@unimelb.edu.au for subject coordinator approval.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 8 November 2024