Caution
Copyright © Monash University 1996
ISBN 1037-0919
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
+ to continue to provide high quality services to students, who are the primary focus of our endeavours;
+ to continue to provide undergraduate and graduate courses which are both intellectually rigorous and respond to changing social needs;
+ to pursue excellence in teaching, learning and education;
+ to foster excellence in research through leadership, rigorous inquiry and innovation;
+ to develop further our community culture and collegial environment;
+ to continue building relationships with the legal profession;
+ to initiate and contribute to the consideration of legal issues in the legal profession and the wider community.
The faculty seeks to provide undergraduate teaching of the highest quality across the range of the discipline of law. This teaching recognises the value of the study of law as a method of providing a broad liberal education, and meets the faculty's obligation to prepare students for legal practice. The obligation on the faculty to prepare students for practice is an obligation not merely to prepare students for the practice of law as it is presently carried out, but to provide them with the intellectual skills necessary to enable them to educate and adapt themselves to the demands of practice as those demands will change throughout the course of their careers. The teaching obligation of the faculty extends to providing a suitable education for those students who may pursue careers not as practitioners, but also as academics, members or employees of law reform agencies, business men and women and members of the public service.
The faculty expects graduate and continuing education in law to become more crucial in the coming decades. It is likely that an increasing number of practitioners will hold an LLM and enrol in various graduate courses beyond that stage for the purpose of updating knowledge and to keep in touch with new and developing areas. This expectation led the faculty to undertake an extensive review and restructuring of its graduate program recently to align it more closely with the changing needs of practitioners and to make it more attractive to the profession, whilst maintaining rigorous academic standards and encouraging more research and scholarly activity within the graduate program.
The main business of the faculty is conducted by the faculty board, which includes all full-time and fractional teaching staff, and twelve student members as well as representatives of the judiciary and the practicing profession, members of other faculties and the library. The student members are normally elected during December each year by students enrolled for the degrees taught by the faculty and there is a high degree of student representation on faculty committees (see the section on student representation later in this chapter). Except in matters on which it has power to act, the faculty board makes recommendations to the Academic Board or through the Academic Board to the Council.
Within the framework provided by the degree regulations and any other conditions which may be agreed upon from time to time by the faculty board, the responsibility for the conduct of teaching and research rests with the dean who acts in consultation with other members of the faculty.
The chief officers of the faculty are the dean, the associate deans, the subdean and the faculty registrar. The faculty registrar is concerned with the overall administration of the faculty including human resource management, budgets and admissions. The subdean is responsible for all matters relating to student administration, including, for example, enrolments, examinations, academic progress, course advice, teaching allocations and timetabling. The dean presides over meetings of the faculty and faculty board and its committees and is concerned with staffing and finance. The faculty registrar, together with the faculty administrative officers, are available to attend to the needs of both undergraduate and postgraduate students within the faculty and should be consulted whenever possible.
+ Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies)/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Arts (Australian Studies/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Arts (European Studies)/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences)/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance)/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Business (Management)/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Economics/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Laws
+ Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery/Bachelor of Laws
Course planning may be discussed with an adviser on enrolment or by earlier contact with the faculty. Non-law subjects may be chosen from other faculties but some restrictions on subject choice apply.
(a) to provide an undergraduate education, leading in the case of a combined law degree to a first degree in three years (with a core of basic legal studies) which will rank with other first degrees in the humanities and the social sciences;
(b) to provide an education in law such that - (i) candidates preparing themselves for admission to practise in the legal professions will have the benefit of an adequate training in legal subjects and a general and liberal undergraduate education; and (ii) education in the basic elements of the common law system will be readily available to undergraduates who do not intend to practise in the professions;
(c) to provide an education in the law which will satisfy the academic requirements for admission to practise as a barrister and solicitor in the State of Victoria (see section on `Admission to practice' at the end of this chapter);
(d) to enable candidates to combine studies in law with advanced studies in other disciplines;
(e) to encourage advanced studies in branches of law requiring understanding of specialised materials and techniques; and
(f) to make it possible for candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Laws to specialise in particular areas of the law in their senior years.
An overview of the various undergraduate degree courses offered by the faculty is given in the chapter called `Outline of undergraduate studies'.
1. Master of Laws. Students may qualify for this degree in one of three ways:
+ by major thesis (70,000 words);
+ by coursework (four subjects) and minor thesis (25,000 words);
+ by coursework alone (six subjects).
2. Master of Taxation Law and Master of Taxation Studies. Students may qualify for these degrees as for a Master of Laws.
3. Doctor of Philosophy.
4. Doctor of Laws.
Details of these graduate courses and course objectives are given in the chapter called `The graduate program'.
The handbook attempts to set out the requirements for the various degrees as simply as possible, but it is advisable to consult the subdean or one of the faculty administrative officers if the meaning is unclear. In relation to subject choice, the onus is on the student to ensure that the subjects selected meet the course regulations and requirements. This is not the faculty's responsibility and the faculty takes no responsibility for error in subject selection. However it will endeavour to give every possible assistance and advice to students concerning their subject choice
This work must be completed to the satisfaction of the lecturer concerned and will usually be taken into account when assessing a student's performance in the subject at the final examination. Students who fail to submit an adequate amount of work or whose work is unsatisfactory may not attain a pass in the subject concerned.
Furthermore, a student must attend such lectures and tutorial classes as well as completing such exercises as may be prescribed and pass the examination in the subject, and if the faculty board considers that the student has not complied with the prescribed requirements for any subject, the candidate may be refused admission to the examination in that subject.
Except where specified, the duration of lectures and tutorials will be one hour.
Graduate students should refer to the section on `Assessment' in the chapter called `The graduate program'.In many undergraduate subjects an examination of three hours duration is held at the conclusion of the course. However, it is common for class tests and shorter examinations to be held either in substitution for or in addition to such an examination. In assessing academic performance in a subject, performance in class, oral work, class tests and other written work may be taken into account as well as results in the final examination. Students who fail in any subject may be limited in the number of subjects that they are permitted to pursue at one time or, if their performance is generally unsatisfactory, they may be refused permission to re-enrol in the Faculty of Law. The faculty fail mark verification procedure provides that a student shall not be failed in a subject except on the recommendation of at least two examiners.
A student is eligible for no more than one supplementary examination in the compulsory law subjects of the LLB degree.
A student is also eligible, upon written application to the dean within the prescribed time, for a supplementary examination in a law subject where that subject is the last subject required for the LLB degree and he or she has marks equivalent to 40 per cent of the total assessment in that subject.
Graduate students should refer to the heading `Special consideration' in the chapter called `The graduate program'.A student who has been prevented by illness or other serious cause from presenting for all or part of the annual examination, or whose work during the academic year or performance in the annual examination has been gravely affected by illness or other serious cause, may apply for special consideration or permission to sit a special examination in the subject concerned. Such application, accompanied by appropriate evidence, must be lodged with the faculty registrar not later than forty-eight hours after the candidate's last examination scheduled on the university's relevant published examinations timetable, provided that the faculty registrar, where satisfied that the student was unable to make application by the required date, has a discretion to accept a late application.
Graduate students should refer to the heading `Special (deferred) examinations' in the chapter called `The graduate program'.Copies of a booklet detailing eligibility for supplementary and special examinations are available from the general office and from the student administration general office. In exceptional cases, applications may be made in writing to the university examinations manager for permission to sit examinations outside the appointed venue.
2 The form of the feedback is at the discretion of the individual teacher having regard to the nature and content of the assessment task and the demands of the particular subject area.
3 It is desirable that teachers make known to students in advance the relevant criteria which will be applied to that assessment. That notice may be in writing.
+ a summary of the issues (in writing where possible and appropriate), and
+ guidance as to the structure of the answer, and
+ an indication of how the relevant criteria of assessment were applied.
4.2 Teachers may distribute sample or model answers at their discretion.
+ the individual quality of the work including legal reasoning, and
+ the adequacy of the research, and
+ the structure and presentation of the work.