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LAWS8001 – Foundations of Law

2025 – Session 1, Online-scheduled-weekday

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor
Mareike Riedel
Contact via Via iLearn
See iLearn
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to GradCertLaw or JD
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit enables students to attain well-developed cognitive and practical key legal skills (legal reasoning, case analysis and statutory interpretation) and to acquire an advanced level of foundational legal knowledge (Australian legal institutions; legal theory; comparative legal systems; parliamentary process; role of the judiciary) necessary for further graduate study in law. Students will also engage in reflective practice.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Recognise, comprehend and apply conventions for legal writing and referencing
  • ULO2: Locate relevant primary and secondary sources through legal research using online databases, library resources and internet sources, and apply research skills to legal analysis.
  • ULO3: Apply principles of statutory interpretation and the doctrine of precedent to interpret and relate primary legal sources (case law and legislation) for the purpose of deriving legal rules and principles.
  • ULO4: Apply principles of reflective practice.
  • ULO5: Identify, describe and relate sources of legal norms and foundational elements of the Australian legal system.

General Assessment Information

All written assessments submitted electronically must be submitted through the link provided in iLearn. This unit will utilise Turnitin plagiarism detection software. Students should carefully check that they submit the correct file for an assessment, as re-submissions will not be accepted after the due date and time, including instances where students upload an incorrect file in error.

The design, moderation and feedback of all assessments is in accordance with the Macquarie University Assessment Procedure (link provided under ‘Policies and Procedures’ below).

Late Submission Policy

A maximum penalty of five (5) percentage points of the total possible marks will be applied per day to late submissions, for up to a maximum of seven calendar days. Tasks that have not been submitted within the maximum number of additional late days will receive a mark of zero. This provision does not apply to online exams or other assessment with a time limit of less than 24 hours.

Penalties for late submission will be applied consistently and equitably to all students enrolled in the unit. Where short-term, serious and unavoidable circumstances have affected their ability to submit an assessment task, a student must submit a formal application for Special Consideration as per the Special Consideration Policy. Students should not request an informal arrangement from their tutor, lecturer or Unit Convenor.

Where an application for Special Consideration is approved, and the outcome is an extension to the due date of a task, submissions that are received after the new due date will be subject to late penalties that are calculated from the new due date. This only applies where the outcome is an extension to the due date – see the Special Consideration Policy for a schedule of all possible outcomes.

Special Consideration

Students should submit applications for Special Consideration electronically via the Service Connect portal, along with the supporting documentation. Before submitting their applications, students should refer to the Special Consideration Policy (link provided under ‘Policies and Procedures’ below).

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Professional Skills 20% Yes Ongoing
Core Skills Assessment 40% Yes 14/04/2025 at 11:55pm
Statutory Interpretation task 40% Yes 06/06/2025 at 11:55pm

Professional Skills

Assessment Type 1: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 0 hours
Due: Ongoing
Weighting: 20%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)

 

Students will develop essential legal professional skills through structured classroom activities such as oral advocacy, critical reasoning, strategic problem-solving, collaborative work, team leadership, mooting, simulated client consultations, legal presentations or demonstrations, doctrinal analysis and problem solving, and/or collaborative legal research. These activities are designed to develop students’ professional capabilities including capacity to communicate legal concepts clearly and engage professionally with diverse audiences in diverse contexts.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply principles of statutory interpretation and the doctrine of precedent to interpret and relate primary legal sources (case law and legislation) for the purpose of deriving legal rules and principles.
  • Apply principles of reflective practice.
  • Identify, describe and relate sources of legal norms and foundational elements of the Australian legal system.

Core Skills Assessment

Assessment Type 1: Case study/analysis
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 14/04/2025 at 11:55pm
Weighting: 40%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)

 

Consists of a short assignment (max 2,500 words, excluding footnotes) submitted online in which students will analyse and interpret primary legal sources (case law and legislation) and relate these to foundational concepts.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Recognise, comprehend and apply conventions for legal writing and referencing
  • Locate relevant primary and secondary sources through legal research using online databases, library resources and internet sources, and apply research skills to legal analysis.
  • Apply principles of statutory interpretation and the doctrine of precedent to interpret and relate primary legal sources (case law and legislation) for the purpose of deriving legal rules and principles.

Statutory Interpretation task

Assessment Type 1: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 29 hours
Due: 06/06/2025 at 11:55pm
Weighting: 40%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)

 

Problem-based task to develop statutory interpretation skills

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Recognise, comprehend and apply conventions for legal writing and referencing
  • Locate relevant primary and secondary sources through legal research using online databases, library resources and internet sources, and apply research skills to legal analysis.
  • Apply principles of statutory interpretation and the doctrine of precedent to interpret and relate primary legal sources (case law and legislation) for the purpose of deriving legal rules and principles.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Delivery

Lectures: Lectures for this unit are delivered face-to-face and will be recorded on Echo360, which can be accessed via the unit iLearn page.

Tutorials: Internal/on-campus students will have weekly 1-hour face-to-face tutorials. Students should consult the official Timetable for class times, dates and locations.

External/online students will have fortnightly tutorials conducted via Zoom. Students should consult the official Timetable for class times and dates. Zoom access details will be provided on the unit's iLearn page. Students should consult the official Timetable for class times and dates. 

This unit is worth 10 credit points, which equates to 150 hours of work. Therefore, students should expect to commit an average of 10 hours per week to this unit, including all scheduled and unscheduled activities and preparing and executing the assessment tasks.

 

Resources

The required textbook is

  • David Hamer et al., Laying Down the Law (LexisNexis, 12th ed, 2023).

Students can purchase the textbook online.

Additional readings will be accessible through iLearn.

Students require access to a computer, internet with decent speed and a secure/reliable server. The iLearn page contains all Unit requirements and a weekly schedule for teaching, readings and tutorials. Information about all assessment tasks is also available on iLearn.

Unit Schedule

Topic #

Topics Covered

1

Introduction to Foundations of Australian Law

2

Sources of Law: Common Law, Equity, and Statute Law

3

Public Law I

4

Case Law and Case Analysis

5

Doctrine of Precedent

6

Legal Problem Solving 

7

First Nations People and the Australian Legal System I

8

Statutory Interpretation I

9

Statutory Interpretation II

10

Statutory Interpretation III

11

Public Law II

12 First Nations People and the Australian Legal System II

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes from Previous Offering

This unit is now a graded unit.


Unit information based on version 2025.04 of the Handbook