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Unit of study_
LAWS6252: Australian Legal Fundamentals
2027 unit information
This unit is designed for students who do not hold a law degree or equivalent from a common law jurisdiction. It equips students with the necessary legal skills and legal knowledge to competently apply themselves in their chosen area of law. The unit learning outcomes include the ability to analyse sources, hierarchies and fundamental principles underpinning the Australian legal system; apply methods and principles of statutory interpretation to resolve legislative ambiguities; construct persuasive written legal arguments; use legal research skills to identify, locate, and evaluate primary and secondary sources, and use those sources to provide appropriate support for answers to essay questions and legal problem questions; and employ appropriate citation practices and principles of academic integrity. To achieve this, in addition to lectures, students participate in in-class activities: distinguishing legal rules from other kinds of rules and norms; creating a hierarchy of Australian laws; identifying the ‘precedential value’ of cases and ratio and obiter; applying caselaw in a problem question; using the purposive approach and HIRAC in statutory interpretation; writing an answer to a law school exam; constructing an argument and writing an essay; academic integrity; and using AGLC. Refer to the Sydney Law School timetable - https://canvas.sydney.edu.au/courses/4533/pages/postgraduate-lecture-timetable
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Sydney Law School
| Study level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Law |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
|---|---|
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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LAWS6881 |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. analyse the sources and hierarchies of Australian law, the fundamental principles underpinning the Australian legal system, and the government institutions responsible for making and enforcing laws, and for adjudicating legal disputes.
- LO2. apply methods and principles of statutory interpretation to resolve legislative ambiguities and identify legislative intent.
- LO3. construct persuasive written legal arguments, employing evidence, legal principles, and multiple perspectives, and communicate these arguments to diverse audiences.
- LO4. use legal research skills to identify, locate, and evaluate primary and secondary sources, and use those sources to provide appropriate support for answers to essay questions and legal problem questions.
- LO5. identify and implement the conventions of legal writing via the creation of essays, case summaries, and responses to legal problem questions, employing appropriate citation practices and the principles of academic integrity.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 1 2027
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Semester 2 2027
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
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