This unit critically examines the criminal law, criminal justice institutions and penal practices in the context of legal scholarly debates. Topics to be considered in any one semester may include criminal responsibility, capacity, gender and criminal law, corporate criminal liability, offence construction and trends in sentencing. In addressing these topics, the unit will attempt to respond to cutting edge developments in the criminal law as they arise. Each topic forms the lens through which larger or longer-term theoretical and others issues are discussed. By contrast with the foundational unit, Criminal Law, this unit does not adopt a content - driven approach to criminal law; instead, it adopts an explicitly critical socio-historical approach to the study of law, and draws on inter-disciplinary scholarship throughout. Discussion of relevant academic scholarship forms a core part of the subject matter of the course.

This unit builds on knowledge gained in the compulsory course Evidence (or Litigation). The unit has three aims. Firstly, it examines the rules of evidence covered in the compulsory Evidence course in greater depth. Secondly, this unit covers new topics such as (i) theories of evidence (ii) identification evidence, (iii) evidence of past sexual history (iv) interaction between human rights legislation and evidential rules. Thirdly, the unit engages in a comparative analysis with evidential rules in Australian and International jurisdictions.

This unit further pursues the goals of Australian Income Tax and is to be regarded as an extension of that unit. In particular, the unit surveys some more advanced (and practically relevant) aspect of Australia's tax system, including special rules applicable to entities (partnerships, trusts, and companies) and their owners, international taxation, goods and services tax (GST), business cost recovery mechanisms (trading stock and depreciation), and tax administration. Together with Australian Income Tax, these units provide a basic understanding of the Australian tax system and a basis for further study and/or practice.

This subject explores a core area of private law, being the law of torts.The subject aims to broaden and deepen students' knowledge of the law of torts in three ways. First, it looks at a range of topics that are not usually covered, at all or in great detail, in the compulsory subject. Students should therefore expect that the topics listed below will be studied in greater depth and sophistication than would be expected in the compulsory subject. Second, the subject examines large theoretical debates as to the nature and function of tort law and how particular torts figure in these debates.Third, it examines case law related to these topics from other common law jurisdictions in addition to a study of the leading Australian materials. The topics to be covered will include some or all of the following: Theoretical accounts of tort law; the Economic torts (inducing breach of contract, intimidation, conspiracy and causing loss by unlawful means); Public Nuisance; Breach of Statutory Duty; Misfeasance in a Public Office and Malicious Prosecution; Trespass to goods; Deceit; Vicarious Liability and Non-delegable duty; Alternatives to Tort Law; Comparative torts; and Contentious and emerging issues in the law of torts.

This unit introduces the Australian income tax system by exploring the operation of the income tax statutes, the underlying principles which those laws seek to implement, and fundamental issues in tax policy. Topics covered include the concept and categories of income, capital gains, fringe benefits, deductions and the treatment of capital expenditure, basic tax accounting principles, and legislative responses to tax avoidance. The unit also introduces the key concepts used to evaluate tax policy, including welfare economics, thereby providing students with a basic understanding of why taxation is of such fundamental concern in modern democratic societies. This unit is a prerequisite for Advanced Taxation Law.

This unit aims to provide students with:
* An overview of the legal regulation and supervision of banks and other Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs);
* An understanding of the legal basis of the relationship between banks, ADIs and their customers, and an overview of the more common rights and duties that adhere to the banker/customer relationship;
* An introduction to negotiable instruments (cheques and bills of exchange), letters of credit and performance bonds, and guarantees;
* An introduction to the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 and its impact on secured lending.

This unit will provide students with an overall picture of the modern Chinese legal system. It will develop a perception of its unique character by tracing its role through major social epochs and the role of law in a socialist market economy. It will examine the concept of law as a political function and the implementation of law, not so much through courts, as through administrative fiats and authority, making law essentially a function of politics and administration. The unit will illustrate these perceptions through the study of various legal regimes. Lecture topics may include: Chinese legal history; Chinese legal system; Criminal law and procedure; Constitutional law; civil law and procedure; legal profession; administrative law; contract law; property law; company law; intellectual property law; environmental Law; foreign joint ventures; arbitration and mediation; foreign trade law and taxation law.

This course is aimed at giving specific dispute resolution skills to graduates who see themselves as practising actively in the business world, handling matters involving contract, finance and property. The workshops derive their substance from actual mediations and disputes. They involve some of the most frequently pleaded heads of law in commercial litigation, such as misleading and deceptive conduct, misrepresentation, and unconscionable conduct. For meaningful involvement in these workshops it will be necessary for students to become familiar, through the required readings, with the substantive law in these areas.
The starting point for this subject is the theory of ADR in its various forms. When these are understood in the early stages of the course, it is then seen as beneficial to re-create realistically the dynamics of commercial disputes, involving as they do a complex mixture of substantive law, adversarial parties, unclear facts and hidden agendas. This is an opportunity for graduates to become aware of and embark on acquiring some practical skills needed to handle these situations.
The teaching methodology is highly interactive and all class members are required to participate and contribute.

This unit of study examines competition law and policy in Australia. The central part of the course deals with Part IV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). The framework for analysis will include a critical examination of the fundamental purposes of competition law policy. Some references will be made to the restrictive trade practices provisions of comparative jurisdictions.
Topics include: (a) common law antecedents of competition law and history of competition law legislation; (b) National Competition Policy and legislation; (c) application of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth); (d) elementary economic theory of monopoly and the goals of competition policy; (e) fundamental concepts of competition, market definition, market power and public benefit; (f) mergers and acquisitions; (g) horizontal arrangements including cartel conduct, primary boycotts, and arrangements which substantially lessen competition; (h) vertical arrangements including exclusive dealing and third line forcing; (i) misuse of substantial market power; (j) notifications and authorizations; and (k) overview of remedies and enforcement. Additional topics may include resale price maintenance or access to essential facilities.

This unit deals with the principles relating to entry into, performance, and remedies for breach of contracts for the sale of land. While conveyancing is sometimes regarded as a mere matter of form filling and rote-learned procedures, it is one of the oldest and most complex areas of law, and requires the application of skill and strategy in deploying legal principles in practice. Modern conveyancing involves the application of an elaborate mix of real property, equity, and contract law concepts, and also principles of interpretation. The course will also deal with elements of the national system of electronic convenyancing. The unit of study is designed to provide the theoretical foundations necessary for expertise in commercial practice. The first part of the course deals with the formation of an enforceable contract for sale, including exchange of contract, identification of the subject-matter of the sale, and obligation of disclosure by vendors under common law and statute, and a brief treatment of statutory remedies under the Australian Consumer Law concerning land dealings. The second section deals with the law relating to the performance of the contract for sale intself, focussing on the standard form of contract for the sale of land in New South Wales. Special attention is paid in this section to the law relating to deposits, defects, the consequences of misdiscription of the land, and the legality of structures upon the land. The third section deals with the remedies available to vendors and purchasers, including notices to complete, specific performance, breach and termination, and relief against forfeiture.

Explore the world of a mergers and acquisitions lawyer! This unit covers the major areas of public securities regulation - takeovers, schemes of arrangement, corporate fundraising, buy backs and capital reductions, continuous disclosure and insider trading, from a technical, practical and tactical viewpoint. This course is run by leading M&A partners from Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Herbert Smith Freehills, who use real-life war stories to illustrate legal principles, but also the practical and commercial application of them in our current market. The course has been designed with future corporate graduates and junior investment bankers in mind. It is a great addition to the resume and head start for any students interested in, or wishing to practise in, corporate law and mergers and acquisitions.

This unit of study aims to introduce students to the theoretical issues associated with the definition and explanation of crime, criminality and crime control. Rationales for punishment are examined along with sentencing, and other possible responses to criminal behaviour are explored. The unit considers the impact of criminal justice policy and practice on particular groups which may include juveniles, women, Indigenous people, ethnic minorities and victims of crime. The regulation of particular types of offences such as hate crime are considered. Other topical issues are covered as they arise in contemporary criminological debate. Students are expected to take part in visits to a gaol and/or a juvenile detention centre.

This unit exposes students to the role and limits of law in addressing acute problems of socio-economic development and human rights in developing countries, through an interactive field school conducted over two weeks in Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries. The themes to be explored are likely to include: The transition from armed conflict to peace in the aftermath of a Maoist insurgency and the end of the monarchy in Nepal (including issues of transitional criminal justice, the drafting of a new constitution, and building a new legal and political system in light of Nepalese legal traditions and foreign legal influences); The protection of socio-economic rights (including rights to food, water, housing, and livelihoods), minority rights (of 'tribals', and 'dalits' in the caste system), and the 'right to development' under constitutional and international law; The interaction between local disputes over natural resources, human displacement caused by development projects, environmental protection and climate change in the context of fragile Himalayan ecologies; The legal protection of refugees (Tibetan or Bhutanese) in camp or mass influx situations, in the context of the limited resources of a developing country and the causes of, and solutions to, human displacement; and the experience of women in development and human rights processes. The issues will be drawn together by reflection upon the influence of, and resistance to, human rights and international law in developmental processes.

This unit will provide a framework for understanding environmental issues, outline the sources of environmental law and provide an overview of the different approaches to environmental regulation before examining a range of topical areas, including climate change, water management, pollution control, waste management, environmental planning, development control and environmental impact assessment. Overarching themes will include the implications of adopting the principles of environmentally sustainable development for legal structures and processes, the effects of scientific uncertainty on environmental regulation, and the importance of public participation for making the value judgements required in environmental governance.

The objective of this unit is to introduce the role of equity as a potential mechanism for allocating risk in commercial transactions. The unit introduces equitable doctrines not covered in the Equity Unit, such as penalties, the doctrines of contribution, subrogation, marshalling and set-off. The Unit explores how these doctrines assist in determining how parties in a commercial transaction should bear the financial risk. It also compares and contrasts the equitable principles with analogous common law rules and considers the impact of statute on these doctrines.

This unit examines how property is divided and financial issues are dealt with when marital or cohabiting relationships break down. Topics include: marital property regimes in different countries, community property systems, discretionary systems, the legal equivalence of cohabitation with marriage, the definition of a de facto relationship, the economic effects of relationship breakdown, publicly-funded income support on relationship breakdown, child support, spousal maintenance, the meaning of property in family law, dealing with discretionary trusts, equality and discretion, and private ordering of financial matters after relationship breakdown.

This unit explores how the law deal with disputes between parents concerning their children, and how State authorities intervene to protect children from abuse and neglect. The unit will have a special focus on cultural issues, including the interaction of the law with indigenous families. Topics include: the changing demographics of the family, family policy in a multicultural society, dispute resolution processes for families, child abuse and neglect, irretrievable breakdowns between parent and child, care proceedings, adoption, the effects of parental separation on children, the law concerning parenting after separation, children's rights and options for participation, religion and culture in family law disputes, domestic violence and disputes over children, child sexual abuse and the family courts, and consent to medical treatment.

Family Law deals with the core provisions of the Family Law Act 1975 governing parenting of children and the property of married couples and persons in a de facto relationship. This course is essential for those interested in Family Law. It is a pre-requisite for Advanced Family Law.
Family Law will focus on the following topics: constitutional and jurisdictional issues; marriage, divorce and de facto relationships, the resolution of disputes relating to children under the Family Law Act 1975, property division under the Family Law Act; child support and maintenance.

The course focuses on the impact of the decision in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) recognising the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to land and waters under traditional law and custom. The course will begin by examining the nature of native title as a property right, and its protection under the Australian Constitution, the Racial Discrimination Act 1975(Cth) and the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). The course will then look at aspects of private law that have particular relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Stait Islander peoples, including statutory land rights, land management regimes, and protection of intellectual and cultural property, and place these issues in a global context. The course will also consider the way in whcih principles relating to contact, corporations, and trust law apply within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, especially where native title is determined to exist. Students will examin the possibilities for indigenous economic development through mining access agreements, participation in the carbon economy, and development of indigenous enterprises. Students will critically examine the way in which private law after Mabo affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and consider the possibility for reform in those areas.

The unit provides an introduction to the mainly statutory law regulating bankrupt individuals and insolvent companies. It explores the objectives and key principles of insolvency law, the pari passu principle, the various forms of insolvent administration including bankruptcy, liquidation, receivership and voluntary administration and associated procedures together with the avoidance of transactions in insolvency. The unit also considers the impact of insolvency on employees, unsecured creditors, shareholders and trustee's of trusts. The unit involves a significant component of statutory interpretation.

Insurance is an essential part of modern life covering a multitude of everyday risks and providing financial security in commerce and life generally. This unit covers the principles and concepts of insurance law and practice. A main focus will be on the rights and liabilities arising under contracts of insurance, under statute (principally the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth)) and at common law. Broad categories and common forms of insurance, and to a lesser extent reinsurance, and the risks covered by them will be considered. Concepts central to insurance will be dealt with including the duty of utmost good faith, the duty of disclosure, third party rights, proportionality, contribution, subrogation and fraud. Other matters to be considered include the role of insurance brokers and underwriting agents, the regulation of insurers (the role of ASIC and APRA), the progression of insurance from contract formation to claims and the role that insurance plays in the community, corporate life and in dispute resolution. There will be a practical emphasis which involve considering some common types of insurance policies and issues arising under them illustrated by problem solving. Consideration will also be given to the role of risk transfer and insurance in contracting.

This unit of study aims to introduce students to the fundamentals of international commercial arbitration. The course covers the entire process of international arbitration: the significance of international commercial arbitration in international dispute resolution; the importance of a well drafted arbitration agreement; all procedural and conceptual aspects and legal issues arising during cross border arbitrations; arbitral awards and the enforcement of arbitral awards around the world through the 1958 New York Convention, and the relevance and use of mediation (and its hybrids) in resolving commercial disputes. The unit will address the role and significance of specialised forms of international arbitrations and organisations involved in administering international arbitrations, including investor-State arbitrations under investment treaties and free trade agreements.

The objective of this unit is to provide students with an introduction to a number of areas of international and cross-border business law and business transactions and to provide students with a basis which will allow them to study some of those areas in more detail. The course will begin with an overview of the scope of the law relating to international transactions. The core topics are international sale of goods, carriage of goods, international payments and financing of international sales, an introduction to the regulation of international trade, and methods of doing business in foreign markets, including international protection of intellectual property, dispute resolution in international business disputes, and the availability and use of available business structures and methods such as direct foreign investment. As part of the discussion of doing business in foreign markets and use of available business structures, students will look at the structure and drafting of international commercial agreements, and may participate in a skills exercise.

This course is an introduction to the law of the World Trade Organization and may also cover an introduction to Bilateral Trade Agreements and Bilateral Investment Treaties.
The largest part of the course deals with the law of the World Trade Organization. The course opens by considering the functions of the WTO utilizing some very basic economics of trade, public choice and game theory. We review the history of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ('GATT'), regulating trade in goods, and the creation of the WTO ending with a review of the institutions of the WTO and of the framework of rules applying under the GATT. There follows a detailed study of the WTO dispute settlement system, under the WTO Understanding on Dispute Settlement, its concepts, procedures and enforcement. We study the framework of rules under the General Agreement on Trade in Services ('GATS') and the relationship between regulation of trade in goods and regulation of trade in services; and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property ('TRIPS'), emphasizing patents, copyright and trademarks. The unit analyses in more detail some of the fundamental rules of the GATT: rules on tariff bindings and customs duties, national treatment, non-tariff barriers, the MFN rule on non-discrimination, an introduction to the rules on subsidies, and the GATT article XX exceptions for restrictions for health and environmental reasons. The rest of the course is selected from three areas:
- Bilateral Investment Treaties;
- Bilateral Trade Treaties; and
- selected further topics of World Trade Organization law drawn from four areas: the GATT escape clauses providing for Safeguard measures, Anti-dumping Duties and Countervailing Duties; further consideration of the MFN rule by considering the exception for free trade areas and customs unions; further consideration of the GATS by considering at least one specific service sector, and further consideration of the TRIPS by considering the extent of some exceptions.

This unit of study introduces students to the principles and practice of international human rights law - a species of international law and policy and a field of ever-expanding dimensions. It will introduce students to some key concepts, debates, documents and institutions in this field, while encouraging critical examination of these from a variety of angles. In summary, this unit considers the question: What happens when we regard a situation or predicament as one involving a breach of international human rights law? What possibilities and problems does this entail? Addressing these questions, we will look at: (a) particular fora where international human rights law is being produced (international tribunals, domestic courts, multilateral bodies - including United Nations organs - regional agencies, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions, and the media); (b) particular settings where international human rights law is being deployed (in Australia and elsewhere); and (c) particular identities/subjects that international human rights law aspires to shape, regulate or secure.

This unit of study will involve participation in one of three international moots, which in 2016 will be the Jessup Moot, the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, and the Tokyo Negotiation and Arbitration Competition. There will be a competitive selection process for enrolment in the course. For all moots, students will work as a team preparing written memorials and oral argument ona set problem as required by each moot.

Legal interpretation is the process by which the legal meaning of a text is ascertained, by reference to the text considered in context and with regard to its purpose. This course deals with the principles and methods of legal interpretation. While mainly relating to statutory interpretation, the unit will also cover aspects of the law of interpretation of private law instruments, the Constitution, and treaties.

The principles and methods of legal interpretation are directed to a purpose - to answer a question about contested legal meanings. The course will focus on the primary elements of interpretive practice: reading and understanding the text in its proper context, and in the light of its purpose and the objective intention of the drafter.

The course will cover:
* Approaches to legal interpretation, with emphasis on the function of interpretation in private and public law.
* Aspects of the interpretation of private instruments, wills, contracts, testamentary dispositions, collective agreements.
* Drafting and clear expression.
* Principles of statutory interpretation, including the conventions of grammatical interpretation of statutes; the use of technical words; the need to read the instrument as a whole; the role and function of interpretation acts, including legislation requiring consideration of Human Rights principles; approaches to ambiguity and inconsistency of language; specific common law principles and presumptions of interpretation; the use of extrinsic aids to interpretation, and the identification of statutory purpose.
* Aspects of interpretation of national and international instruments - Constitutions and treaties.

Part of the course content will be taught by eminent guest lecturers from the Faculty and the profession.

This seminar program is an introductory course in Islamic Law. It will focus on Shari'ah (the classical laws as derived from the religious sources), and will seek to explain its relationship to the contemporary laws of Muslim states and to the cultural practices of Muslim communities living in Australia and other predominantly non-Muslim states. The course aims to provide a basic understanding of the sources of Islamic Law, their interpretation, and of the 'Schools of Law' which predominate in the Muslim World. The case studies, in particular, aim to engage students to assess critically past and present understandings in the contexts of modernity, post-modernity, 'human rights', and social change.

This unit covers copyright and designs law, both recognised branches of intellectual property law. Their existence is often justified on the presumption that they encourage the exercise of inventive, creative and entrepreneurial skill and labour. The protection these areas of law provides is said to enable commercial exploitation of the resulting works or designs. This unit focuses on the requirements for the copyright and design protection and investigates the bases upon which infringement action can be brought. Particular emphasis will be placed on the expanding scope of copyright and the implications of the internet, as well as provisions in the Copyright Act intended to address the apparent overlap between copyright and design protection. Although the unit of study will emphasise legal doctrine and be taught from the perspective of a relatively depoliticised formalism, it is also recognised that the deployment and the regulation of intellectual property inevitably have substantial cultural, technological and economic consequences, which in turn inform and shape the development of legal doctrine. So, for example, Gone With The Wind, as a literary work still under copyright, is both an asset with a monetary value and the focus of a civil rights activism which demands the right to imitate the work for social and political criticism and parody. There will, accordingly, be some attention paid in this unit to the cultural, technological and economic consequences of intellectual property laws, to the significance of access to the public domain and to the effects of international trade pressure in the area

This unit will focus on legal rights concerning the marketing of products, specifically, trade mark law, and legal rights concerning invention, specifically, patent law. Most aspects of the law of registered trade marks, (including some references to passing-off and unfair competition) will be covered in the unit, as will the effect of these areas of law on new marketing practices on the Internet. Some specific topics which will be covered in depth are: the differences between registered trade marks, passing-off and unfair competition; character merchandising and the protection of the celebrity persona; the nature of signs and the special problem of shape trade marks; counterfeiting and parallel imports; the badge of origin, private property and cultural resource functions of registered trade marks. In patent law, there will be a particular focus on medical method patents, in light of their recent development and controversial nature. Although the unit of study will emphasise legal doctrine and be taught from the perspective of a relatively depoliticised formalism, it is also recognised that the deployment and the regulation of intellectual property inevitably have substantial cultural and economic consequences, which in turn inform and shape the development of legal doctrine. So, for example, pharmaceutical patents are both valuable assets to their owners, who accordingly demand extensive legal protection for those assets, and also the target of vigorous criticism in the developing world for the patents' potentially detrimental effect on public health in relation to, inter alia, HIV. There will, accordingly, be some attention paid in this unit to the cultural and economic consequences of intellectual property laws, to the significance of access to the public domain and to the effects of international trade pressure in the area.

This unit aims to develop the general skills of comparative lawyers, to effectively and critically assess contemporary developments in the legal system of the largest economy in our region. The unit is taught intensively in Japan after an introductory class in Sydney. The first week in Kyoto provides an introduction to how law operates generally in Japanese society. After an overview of comparative law techniques, Japanese legal history and its contemporary legal system, classes explore civil and criminal justice, politics and constitutionalism, government and law, gender and law, lawyers and the courts in Japan as well as consumers and law. The two days in Tokyo examine business law topics in socio-economic context in more detail, after an introduction to the Japanese economy and international trade policy. Topics include dispute resolution, investment and finance law, labour law and corporate governance.

The Honours Unit in Law consists of:
1. A dissertation written under the supervision of one member of academic staff, and
2. Participation in a non-assessable research workshop.
The dissertation will be a maximum of 12,000 words (inclusive of footnotes).

For students studying overseas on an official university exchange program.

This unit introduces students to the legal systems of Southeast Asia, focusing on Indonesia and Malaysia. The course emphasises legal pluralism - that is, the operation of different bodies of law for particular groups in those countries, colonial, national, Islamic and customary law - and compares how countries in Southeast Asia have handled it. The Indonesia component of the course will be taught at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, which has one of Indonesia's finest law faculties. Students will learn the fundamentals of the Indonesian legal system. The component will be geared towards not only those who want to practice commercial law in Indonesia, but also those who are interested in other areas, including law reform, human rights, Islamic law, constitutional law, environmental law and criminal law. The Malaysian component will be taught at the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur, which has one of the largest and most prestigious law faculties in Malaysia. Established in 1983, the faculty has sought to teach and provide expertise on harmonizing Shari'a with Civil and Common Law. Students will learn the fundamentals of the Malaysian legal system in the contexts of Malaysia's competing ethnicities, political and economic reform and the harmonization of laws. A particular focus will be on the dual banking system and the role of Islamic law in the development of trade, banking and finance.

The daily practice of journalism is affected by a range of common law principles and statutory provisions. This unit of study seeks to examine some of the most significant, practical constraints on the media. It examines in detail contempt of court, the principle of open justice and suppression orders. It considers contempt of parliament and other restrictions of the reporting of parliamentary proceedings. It also analyses the law relating to the disclosure of journalists' sources and the impact of freedom of information laws on the media. This unit of study seeks to provide not only a thorough doctrinal analysis of these areas of law but also seeks to locate them within their broader historical, international, comparative, political and policy contexts.

This unit of study analyses two areas of law which have a significant impact on the daily practice of journalism. Both of these areas of law relate to the personal interests of private plaintiffs and the legal recourse such plaintiffs may have against media outlets. The tort of defamation, which protects a plaintiff's reputation, is a well-established cause of action which notoriously has a "chilling" effect on what the media publishes. By contrast, direct legal protection of privacy against invasions by the media is a rapidly developing area of law in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the European Union. This unit of study provides a detailed examination of the principles of defamation law relating to liability, defences and remedies. It also examines how different common law legal systems are developing direct legal protection for individuals' privacy against intrusive media coverage. This unit of study provides a thorough doctrinal analysis of defamation, privacy and breach of confidence, as well as placing these areas of law in their broader historical, international, comparative, social and cultural contexts.

This unit of study provides an introduction to some of the legal issues that arise in modern health care. Issues to be covered in the course include: consent to medical treatment, professional liability of health professionals (including different forms of action for medical negligence), confidentiality, privacy, and access to medical records, the regulation of reproduction (including termination of pregnancy), and end-of-life decision-making, including assisted dying or "euthanasia". By the end of the unit, students will have a grounding in legislation and caselaw regulating the provision of health care services, and will also be aware of some of the ethical issues that arise in medical contexts. Student participation in class discussion will be expected.

Migration Refugees and Forced Migration is designed to introduce students to one of the most fast moving and engaging areas of public law. At one level, the unit is about government regulation of the entry of persons into Australia. As such, it is a branch of applied administrative law that concerns the very make-up of our society, affecting both who we live with and how we live our lives. Statistics show that more than one in four Australians were either born overseas or had an Australian-born parent. Dramatic skills shortages have seen unprecedented rises in the number of migrants brought to Australia on temporary and permanent visas. In spite of this, controversy persists over the nature of Australia's immigration program and the extent to which the government is doing enough to control both unlawful entry and the quality of the (lawful) migrants. Issues surrounding refugees and asylum seekers are a constant preoccupation. Covering both immigration law and domestic aspects of the law of forced migration the course is also a fine vehicle for exploring issues of human rights and the interaction between domestic and international law.
With Sydney receiving the lion's share of the migrants that come to Australia each year, migration law has become a growth area for both lawyers and for migration agents. By placing the current mechanisms for the controlling migration in their legal, social, historical and economic contexts, this unit provides an opportunity to explore the "big" issues raised by migration and to look at why the subject has assumed such a central role in the development of Australia's identity as a nation.
The unit of study is designed to foster the following skills:
a. Skills of statutory interpretation and problem-solving, through the study and use in practical situations of the Migration Act 1958 and its associated Regulations;
b. Skills of legal analysis and evaluation, gained through the examination and synthesis of relevant legislation; of court decisions and of rulings by the Migration Review Tribunal; the Refugee Review Tribunal; and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in its migration division; and
c. Oral and writing skills, through class participation, simulation exercises and the preparation of a major research paper.

The unit of study aims to encourage students to develop skills and knowledge about the police and policing, with particular reference to the shifting nature of policing. The unit includes critical analysis of theoretical and policy issues within contemporary criminal justice, but also examines policing (in its widest sense) including the pluralisation of policing. Students will examine: crime and crime control within a social and political context; policing and other institutions and processes of criminal justice in the light of contemporary research and policy debates; the major theoretical frameworks within which crime, policing and criminal justice policy are constructed and analysed; challenges for policing arising from changes in spatial arrangements, and from transnational developments in crime and crime control.

Private international law is the part of local or municipal private law which is concerned with questions which contain a foreign element i.e. a relevant connection between a fact or party and a foreign legal system. For example, private international law issues will require consideration if a question arises in New South Wales concerning the distribution of the property of a person who died domiciled in France or the validity of a mortgage of shares in a New York corporation or the recognition of the dissolution of a marriage by a Norwegian court.
In seeking to develop your understanding of the international dimension of private law and your appreciation of the fact that many legal questions which arise in everyday life are not confined within one legal system, this unit of study will address the following topics: (1) personal connecting factor (domicile, nationality, residence); (2) renvoi and the incidental question; (3) transactions involving immovable property (e.g. land, intellectual property rights) and movable property (e.g. ships, aircraft, artworks, shares, contractual rights); (4) devolution of property on death (succession); (5) marriage validity; and (6) dissolution and annulment of marriage, including the recognition of foreign dissolutions and annulments of marriage. In addition to these topics, an introductory survey will address the function, purpose and rationale of private international law, theories and methods (e.g. the territorial theory of law, the vested rights theory), historical development and the relationship between statutes and the common law rules of private international law.

The course provides a general introduction to all aspects of Roman private law. It begins with an historical sketch of Roman institutions from the earliest times until the reign of Justinian (CE 527-565), together with an introduction to Roman legal history and the development of Roman legal concepts. It also deals with the reception of Roman jurisprudence into modern European legal systems and the common law. The Roman law of marriage and family, moveable and immoveable property, real and personal security, succession, and contractual, quasi-contractual and delictal obligations are then dealt with in depth. The Institutes of Justinian, in English, is the fundamental text for study and students are expected to read the Institutes in some detail. The Institutes constitute a map of the law and means of ordering the law. Roman law has always been, and still is, of great historical importance in the development of many areas of the common law. Roman law also provides a yardstick by which both the virtues and the shortcomings of the common law can be measured. Further, Roman law forms the jurisprudential background of most of the legal systems in force in continental Europe and those parts of the rest of the world that were colonised by continental European nations.

The Social Justice Program will arrange for students enrolled in the course to work with various organisations which have agreed to participate in the Program. To date, such bodies include the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS), the Public Interest Law Clearinghouse (PILCH), the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Environmental Defender's Office (EDO). Through such organisations students will be exposed to real world cases and participate in a structured seminar program dealing with social justice issues and aspects of public interest law.
During semester hands-on experience with cases, clients and/or policy and research projects will be obtained one day per week in a 'social justice' placement site. Students will attend weekly seminars designed to provide students with the basic knowledge and skills required to participate in a working clinical legal organisation, and cover legal issues specific to the placement sites. The seminars will encourage discussion and reflection on the range of issues that may arise during the course of the placement.
At the end of the unit students should have: (i) enhanced their ethical, social and professional understanding of the practice of law; (ii) improved their ability to recognise, define and analyse legal problems flowing from real case files, and to identify and create processes to solve them; (iii) observed and practised communication and inter-personal skills involved in the practice of law; (iv) been introduced to aspects of legal practice such as legal writing, research, client interaction and time management; (v) had the opportunity to work both independently and collaboratively, in a way that is informed by openness, curiosity and a desire to meet new challenges.

In this unit of study students are afforded the opportunity to work the equivalent of one day per week during the semester in a 'public interest' placement site. In addition, students attend fortnightly seminars which are designed to promote discussion and reflection on a range of issues that may arise during the course of the placement as well as seminar presentations on matters relevant to public interest externships. The unit has a public interest focus which is reflected in the selection of placement sites.
At the end of the unit students should have:
* acquired a better sense of the professional and personal responsibilities associated with the practice of law;
* developed an appreciation that the law is a people profession;
* observed and participated in a high level of problem solving flowing from real case files (where appropriate);
* been introduced to the basic inter-personal skills involved in the practice of law;
* interacted with legal professionals in a flexible learning environment;
* been introduced to aspects of the practice of law such as legal writing, advocacy and time management; and
* developed the character and habits of a reflective practitioner.

This unit of study is offered annually under the supervision of the a member of the full-time academic staff and the Publishing Director of the Sydney Law Review. The unit is limited to 6 students per semester, who are selected on the basis of their academic results. Preference may be given to students in their final year in the selection of students for the unit. Each student will complete a range of tasks with respect to the Review, including editing and proofreading submissions and writing a review note (for assessment purposes only) and a case note for assessment and potential publication. (A limited number of casenotes are selected for publication each year, according to their merit.) Students selected for this unit must be prepared to serve for six months, so that duties may start before, and may continue after, the formal teaching and examination period.

This unit provides an in-depth introduction to the principles, core concepts, and key cases of United States Constitutional Law. It traces the structure and role of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the development of U.S. constitutional reasoning from the post-revolutionary period to the present. It considers debates about constitutional interpretation, and the significance of different approaches to key provisions of the Constitution. Topics may include all or any of: federalism and the commerce clause; eminent domain and "just compensation"; substantive due process; equal protection of the laws: race and gender discrimination; freedom of speech; freedom of religion; unenumerated rights; constitutional protection of citizenship and voting. Students will also be introduced to, and encouraged to engage in, normative debates about constitutional values.

A vital function of public international is its struggle against violence, both in preventing it from occurring and mitigating its effects once it gets under way. This unit explores two key areas of international law devoted to regulating intense violence involving governments or non- State actors: (1) International Law on the Use of Armed Force, and (2) International Humanitarian Law (also known as the Law of Armed Conflict or the Laws of War). The first part of the course considers the prohibition on the use of force under customary law and the United Nations Charter; exceptions to that prohibition in cases of self-defence by States or collective security action by the UN Security Council; controversies over pre-emptive self-defence, humanitarian intervention and the "Responsibility to Protect"; peacekeeping and peace enforcement; the role of regional and international actors; and the use of force by and against non-State actors. The second part of the course considers the origins, purposes and sources of international humanitarian law; its scope of application; the different types and thresholds of conflict; the permissible means and methods of warfare (including restrictions on weapons); the status and treatment of combatants and non-combatants and others (such as spies, mercenaries, "unlawful combatants", "terrorists", journalists, and "private security contractors"); the protection of cultural property and the environment; the relationship between human rights law and humanitarian law; and the implementation, supervision and enforcement of humanitarian law (including the prosecution of war crimes and the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross).

This unit of study will introduce the student to a basic understanding of the variability of law as a function of the variability of the social context in which it operates. By applying comparativist theory and empirical methodology from different perspectives, the unit will prepare the ground for an appreciation of the operation of society's law in the complex historical setting of different cultural systems, nation states, multicultural societies and on the international level.

The aim of the unit of study is to provide an understanding of the economic analysis of law and to clarify fundamental differences between legal argument and the analysis of public policy. The unit defines the role of government within the framework of welfare economics and examines the social and economic effects of legal regimes within that framework. Particular attention is given to the concept of a competitive market, to the available empirical evidence on market failure, and to the need for government intervention in response to market failure and its negative consequences for social justice. Topics covered include: theoretical concepts of social justice, social insurance; monopoly and environmental regulation; economics of property and contract law; labour law and bargaining power; tort rights and remedies; asymmetric information, adverse selection and moral hazard with applications to medical malpractice; agency, corporate governance and bankruptcy; family law; taxation; and the measurement of inequality.

This course examines and evaluates traditional theories of law through the lens of their deployment in the changing context of world society and global governance. It has been supposed that there is no difference in kind between the law internal to a state, and that which exists in the global arena. But the rapid development of norms and institutions used in global governance over the last half century has cast doubt on this assumption. The course surveys leading theories of law and attempt to apply them to the vast and evolving array of international law-related activity. Topics include the nature and role of customary law, enforcement and compliance, transnational authority, 'hard' and 'soft' law, human rights, and international responsibility, among others.

This unit of study will introduce the fundamental notions of jurisprudence understood as a theory about the aims, functions and values of law and legal system. It will aim to provide students with the critical understanding of the central issues in philosophy of law understood as a general, abstract, normative reflection on law as such rather than an examination of a concrete legal system. Nevertheless, the purpose will be to provide students with the conceptual means allowing them to conduct a critical scrutiny of particular legal systems and legal rules with which they are familiar. The course will consider, in particular (1) the notions of legitimacy, validity and authority of law; (2) the idea of rights and the nature of the rights discourse; (3) the justifications and limits of liberty rights; (4) the concept of justice, as applied to law, (5) the sources and limits of our obligation to obey the law, etc.

The unit of study will introduce the student to the basic concepts of sociological theory and methodology and will show how these concepts can be applied to the observation of the functioning of law. On the basis of such a primary understanding of how societies organise themselves and their law it will become possible for the student to appreciate and evaluate critically the efforts of socio-legal research and the conceptions of some major contributors to the sociological theory of law. The first part of this unit will look at what sociological theory and research can offer today in the description of social life, the explanation of how societies are organised, why people do what they do. Elementary sociological concepts like norm, role, group, power, class, social structure and social system will be related to the operation of the law. Concepts like these provide the tools which make it possible to examine and study systematically and carefully the social organisation and structure of legal systems, the operation and the social environments in which and in relation to which they are operating.

This course will explore the nature and value of the rule of law through a critical examination of classical and contemporary writings in jurisprudence. Among the problems we will consider are: What features of a legal system contribute to bringing about the rule of law? What is 'legality'? What is the relationship between the rule of law and the rule of good law? Is it always a virtue, other things being equal, to apply valid legal rules? How far is the rule of law consistent with the indeterminacy of law or with discretionary decision-making? Is the rule of law an 'unqualified human good'? Why is it good? Should the rule of law ever be sacrificed for the sake of other goods? What does the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index measure? Is it defensible from a jurisprudential point of view, and useful in determining the nature and value of the rule of law? Readings will include historical sources from the ancient Greek and early modern periods, contemporary essays in legal, moral, and political theory, and other primary legal sources.

This unit asks whether obedience to legal norms is required by morality. It examines various arguments for a moral obligation to obey the law.

This unit of study seeks to enable critical reflection on (i) various philosophical and sociological conceptions of the state and (ii) various arguments for and against it.