Undergraduate - UnitLAW4331 - Administrative 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 First semester 2015 (Day) Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)

Synopsis

Topics include: the basic concepts and principles underpinning Administrative law; the structure of government administration; the obtaining of reasons for governmental decisions, and freedom of information; the privatisation of administrative services; sources of administrative discretions; the systems which have developed for the review of the actions of administrative agencies; and the scope of administrative law remedies. Students will examine the grounds of judicial review at common law and under statute. That examination will provide the basis for an analysis that will be conducted of the distinctions between the legality of decisions and their merits, and between errors of law and errors of fact. Consideration will also be given to concepts of statutory and administrative discretion, and justiciability. Students will be helped to develop the skills necessary to solve problems arising in administrative law.

Outcomes

Know and understand the core values in administrative law and be able to evaluate the principles and processes that have developed in terms of those values
Have acquired knowledge and understanding of the various avenues of challenging administrative decisions, and be able to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative avenues of review
Have developed knowledge and understanding of the basic grounds of judicial review and be able to assess the lawfulness of administrative action
Have developed practical skills in recognising, researching and solving administrative law problems and issues
Have acquired knowledge and practical skills in purposive statutory interpretation to define the scope of statutory powers
Have further developed legal research, writing and legal argument skills by undertaking systematic research, including empirical research and the application of theory, into current issues relating to administrative law.

Assessment

1. Examination (2 hours writing time plus 30 minutes reading and noting time): 100%
OR
2. Examination (2 hours writing time plus 30 minutes reading and noting time): 60% and research assignment (2,000 words): 40%

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)

Semester 1: Mrs Maria O'Sullivan
Semester 2: Mr Colin Campbell

Prerequisites

LAW1100 OR LAW1101 and LAW1102 or LAW1104

Co-requisites

LAW3200 or LAW3201

Prohibitions

LAW3100