Undergraduate - UnitLAW4115 - Environmental law

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Law
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)

Synopsis

Controls designed to control pollution of air, water, and land, noise pollution, and conservation of the national estate. Enforcement of such controls. Relevance of environmental considerations over a wide range of decision making processes. Environmental impact assessment. An introduction to planning law. Coordination of environmental controls between Commonwealth and States including relevant provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). Environmental litigation, including issues of justiciability, and the standing of private citizens and environmental groups.

Outcomes

On conclusion of this subject students should:

have been exposed to the principal common law and legislative control mechanisms designed to protect and conserve the environment
have a comprehensive knowledge of the sanctions and enforcement methods available
be equipped to advise individuals, corporations, and community groups as to their rights and obligations under environmental legislation
have an understanding of the relevance of environmental concerns over a wide range of 'governmental' decision-making processes
have an appreciation of the new national approaches to the coordination and harmonisation of Federal-State functions in relation to the environment.

Assessment

Research paper (2000 words): 40%
Take-home examination (3000 words): 60%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Gerry Nagtzaam

Prerequisites

LAW1100 or LAW1101 and LAW1102 or LAW1104