Parliamentary Democracy of Australia
The nation of Australia can be said to be a parliamentary democracy. The Constitution of the Australian nation, framed in the year of 1901, framed and recognized a federal structure of government in the nation of Australia. In accordance to such structure, the powers can be said to be distributed amidst the national government (which is the Commonwealth) and the other 6 States. The Australian Constitution expresses and describes the boundaries of the law-making authorities amidst the States/Territories and the Commonwealth. The legal structure of Australia, which is actually a common law structure, had been inherited from the United Kingdom during the times of colonization. The 2 primary sources of the Australian law can be said to be the cases (which can be said to be the decisions that are made by the judges in courts) and the legislation (which can be said to be the legal rules that are made by the parliament as well as by the ones in respect of whom the parliament has delegated or deputized authority) (Lino 2020). This essay shall discuss the Australian Legal Structure (also taking into consideration the courts and the legal sources).
Figure 1: The Legal Structure
Source: (Kearneylegalstudies.wordpress.com, 2022)
The legal structure of the nation of Australia actually encompasses numerous versions. It encompasses a specific written constitution, the unwritten constitutional conventions, regulations, statutes, as well as the judicially resolute and determined common law structure. It should be noted that the legal traditions as well as institutions of the Australian nation have substantially been derived from the traditions and institutions of the legal system of United Kingdom. The primary features in relation to the legal structure of the nation of Australia can be said to be fairness and accessibility. The legal structure of the nation is based upon unacceptable in-equability, fairness and justice, as well as equal treatment of every person. In the Australian nation, it is always encouraged that everybody should have knowledge, accessibility and basic understanding regarding the law. The main sources in relation to the Australian law can be said to be the statute law and the Common law. The statute law can be said to be the law, which is enacted by the state or federal parliament. The enacted law includes the numerous Acts or legislations. The common law can be said to be the law that are given effect to by the judges, because of which the common law is also known as the judge-made law. However, it must be specified that in the even of any kind of conflict, the statute law shall be considered as the superior law and it shall prevail over the common law. The statute law actually overrides the judge-made or common law (Libguides.anu.edu.au 2022).
Figure 2: Sources of law in Australia
Source: (Kearneylegalstudies.wordpress.com, 2022)
The nation of Australia can be regarded as a common-law jurisdiction. The court structure in the nation of Australia have actually initiated in the particular common law structure of the law of United Kingdom. The common law of the Australian nation has been implemented uniformly and consistently all over the states. On the basis of the ‘division of power’, the specific courts that actually interpret as well as implement the laws are conducted and accomplished by The Judiciary. From the significant historic viewpoint, the colonies of Britain had been treated in 2 manners. In any colony that might have been obtained through conquest, the local laws were actually respected. However, the parliament of England were able to alter the laws. In the specific colonies that might have been obtained through settlement, the laws of England had been implemented, as such areas should have been uncultivated as well as deserted (McGregor-Lowndes and Williamson 2018).
Distribution of Powers Between National Government and States
Figure 3: Court Structure in Australia
Source: (Law.indiana.libguides.com, 2022)
The Family Court can be said to have been responsible in connection to the family issues, like divorce. The normal family courts ca be said to be the judge-sitting courts that are responsible for the cases regarding family law. The higher-level court, which is the ‘Full court of the Family Court’, actually deals with the appeals. It should be noted that the Federal Court is actually accountable for the issues concerning the Commonwealth law like the trade marks. The Federal Court also hear the appeals that ascend from the Commonwealth Tribunals. The Federal Circuit Court can be said to be accountable for certain less difficult issues relating to Commonwealth law or family law. Ultimately, the High Court of the nation of Australia can be said to be the court of the highest or utmost level in the legal system of the country. The appeals from federal or state courts (like the Supreme Courts) could be made in respect of the Australian High Court. Furthermore, the particular issues amidst the federal government and the states governments are actually dealt with by the High Court (Stone 2022). The specific Tribunals have the accountability to deal with the problem in a lot more well-organized and efficient manner, with less consumption of money and time (Corcoran and Dickenson 2020).
The other 2 primary powers (other than the court system or judiciary) are the Legislature (which is the parliament) and the Executive (which concerns the government). It should be noted that the government of the nation of Australia is actually based upon the Westminster-style structure of the government, which includes the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
Figure 4: The Constitution
Source: (Law.indiana.libguides.com, 2022)
The executive branch of the government structure of the Australian nation encompasses the Prime Minister, the other cabinet ministers and the government departments. Hence, the Executive division of the Australian government can be said to be the Cabinet and the Ministry, which is commanded by Prime Minister. It should be noted that the Executive actually carries out or performs the regular administration of the whole nation. The Executive is actually created from the particular majority party (or parties) in House of Representatives (AustralianPolitics.com 2022). The legislative branch of the government structure of the nation of Australia primarily encompasses the parliament. The Parliament of the nation of Australia (formally known as the Federal Parliament, which is also known to be the Commonwealth Parliament) can be said to be the legislative division of the specific government of the Australian nation. The Federal Parliament mainly includes 3 elements, which are the Crown (that is represented by Governor-General), the House of Representatives and the Senate (Taflaga 2018).
As the Australian nation is a ‘constitutional monarchy’, hence, the Governor-General actually forms a part in relation to the executive, although, the Governor-General never exercises political authority or power. In its place, the Governor-General performs the actions based upon the instruction and guidance of Prime Minister as well as the Executive Council (the Executive Council encompasses the other ministers of the government). In actuality, the executive portion of the government does a lot more than merely administering the government and executing the laws that are passed by the parliament. As the government is obligated to control the House of Representatives in order to endure and survive, hence, in reality, the executive also decides what specific legislation should be discussed and sanctioned by House of Representatives. However, the executive might not essentially control or regulate the Senate numbers and might be blocked by or required to compromise/cooperate with the associations that actually control or regulate that particular chamber.
Conclusion
To conclude, it can be said that the Constitution of Australia provides a federal structure of the government. A national legislature is in existence, which holds the power of passing laws in connection to any express topic. Each state has their own structure of parliaments and courts, and are conferred with complete authority. The High Court of the nation of Australia is the apex court of the country. The final decision regarding the judicial determination in relation to every legal matter is given effect to by the High Court. This essay discussed the Australian legal structure in details.
References
AustralianPolitics.com, 2022. Executive Government – Overview – AustralianPolitics.com. [online] AustralianPolitics.com. Available at: <https://australianpolitics.com/executive/overview> [Accessed 26 April 2022].
Corcoran, R. and Dickenson, J., 2020. A dictionary of Australian politics. Routledge.
Kearneylegalstudies.wordpress.com, 2022. New Unit: Sources of Law. [online] KEARNEY LEGAL STUDIES. Available at: <https://kearneylegalstudies.wordpress.com/2016/07/17/new-unit-sources-of-law/> [Accessed 26 April 2022].
Law.indiana.libguides.com, 2022. Research Guides: The Law of Australia: Case Law. [online] Law.indiana.libguides.com. Available at: <https://law.indiana.libguides.com/c.php?g=253037&p=1727270> [Accessed 26 April 2022].
Libguides.anu.edu.au, 2022. LibGuides: Law: The Australian Legal System. [online] Libguides.anu.edu.au. Available at: <https://libguides.anu.edu.au/c.php?g=634887&p=4547083> [Accessed 26 April 2022].
Lino, D., 2020. The Australian Constitution as Symbol. Federal Law Review, 48(4), pp.543-555.
McGregor-Lowndes, M. and Williamson, A., 2018. Foundations in Australia: Dimensions for international comparison. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(13), pp.1759-1776.
Stone, A., 2022. Precedents and Case-Based Reasoning in the Case Law of the High Court of Australia. Selena Bateman and Adrienne Stone, Precedents and Case-Based Reasoning in the Case-Law of The High Court of Australia (with Selena Bateman) in Monika Florczak-W?tor (ed) Precedents and Case-Based Reasoning–A Comparative Study (Routledge, 2022,).
Taflaga, M., 2018. What’s in a name? Semi-parliamentarism and Australian Commonwealth executive-legislative relations. Australian Journal of Political Science, 53(2), pp.248-255.
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