SEMESTER 1, 2018

LEGL1001
FOUNDATIONS OF LAW
Module 1: Legal System & Constitutional Framework
Class 1: Legal Concepts & Terminology
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

 INTRODUCTION
 Dr Eliezer Sanchez-Lasaballett, Seminar Presenter
 PhD (Newcastle), LLM (Manchester, UK), LLB (UCAB, Venezuela)
 Comparative Contract Law
 Lawyer trained in the Civil Law tradition working in courts of Civil,
Commercial, Transport and Banking Law
 Teaching at the UON since 2013
 e.sanchez-lasaballett@newcastle.edu.au
 My dream job is to be an Academic & Researcher
 Course Coordinator: Kate Lindsay
 katherine.lindsay@newcastle.edu.au
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

 INTRODUCTION
60 seconds with…
 Your Name
 What degree program are you studying? (eg Bachelor of Arts)
 Is this your first semester of study? Yes / No
If, NO, how long have you been studying?
 Have you studied LEGL1001 before YES / NO
 Are you studying FULL-TIME or PART-TIME?
 MALE / FEMALE / OTHER
 Do you work outside Uni, including family responsibilities? YES / NO
 Do you speak languages other than English? If so, which one(s)?
 Favourite Movie?
 Dream job?
 Dream holiday destination?
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

 INTRODUCTION
 Blackboard: Announcements, Course Materials,
Assignments & Grades
 Course Outline
 Textbook
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

TEXTBOOK
Clive Turner, John Trone and Roger Gamble
Concise Australian Commercial Law
(4th ed, 2017) Thomson Reuters

Available at the Co-op bookshop Shortland

Building
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

 INTRODUCTION
 Blackboard: Announcements, Course Materials,
Assignments & Grades
 Course Outline
 Textbook
 Assessment
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

ASSESSMENT
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

 INTRODUCTION
 Blackboard: Announcements, Course Materials,
Assignments & Grades
 Course Outline
 Textbook
 Assessment
 Organisation & Content
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

ORGANISATION & CONTENT

The course is organised in 3 modules:
 MODULE 1: Legal System and Constitutional Framework (Weeks 1 to 4)
▪ Legal concepts and terminology
▪ Australia as a common law system
▪ Australian constitutional framework
▪ What does it mean to be an engaged citizen?
 MODULE 2: The Law of Contract (Weeks 5 to 9)
▪ Promises and bargains
▪ Making a contract
▪ Contract excuses
▪ Contract terms
▪ Ending a contract and remedies
 MODULE 3: Other Areas of Law which affect Business (Weeks 10 to 12)
▪ The law of Negligence
▪ Consumer Protection
▪ How the law defines Types of Businesses
LEGL1001 FOUNDATIONS OF LAW

ORGANISATION & CONTENT

 Learning opportunities for each class are divided into 3 parts
1. Activities and exercises
To be completed BEFORE class each week
Variety of audiovisual and textual sources, questions and reflections
2. In-class learning
Activities related to our legal case study, hypotheticals, videos and class
discussion
3. Learning AFTER class
Assigned textbook reading, Topic Notes by your lecturer, and Enrichment
activities*
* Not compulsory, but they will extend your knowledge of the topic for the week
In-Class Learning

 Have you watched the videos in Blackboard?

 Legal Briefs - What is the Law?
 Legal Briefs - The adversarial system
In-Class Learning

 Legal Briefs - What is the Law?

 Please, go to www.socrative.com and
click Student Login

Note: You can also access the login screen directly

from b.socrative.com or
by opening the Socrative Student mobile app
In-Class Learning

 Legal Briefs - What is the Law?

1. What type of lawyer is Lizzie O’Shea?
A. Criminal lawyer
B. Corporate lawyer
C. Pro Bono lawyer
D. None of the above
E. I don’t know
In-Class Learning

 Legal Briefs - What is the Law?

2. What are the two extreme ideas of what law is?
A. Law is apolitical
B. Law is moral
C. Law is black letter rules
D. Both A and B
E. Both B and C
In-Class Learning

 Legal Briefs - What is the Law?

3. What factors do we need to take into account
when applying the law?
A. Our value system
B. The nature of the crime
C. The letter of the law
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
In-Class Learning

 Legal Briefs - What is the Law?

4. To what or whom do Judges owe a duty?
A. The law
B. Politicians
C. Both of them
D. None of them
In-Class Learning

 Legal Briefs - What is the Law?

5. What of these statements are true?
A. Parliaments make law called ‘legislation’
B. Courts make law called ‘common law’
C. Both of them are true
D. None of them are true
In-Class Learning

 Legal Briefs - What is the Law?

1. Why is it important for the law to “adapt and respect
changes in society”?
2. What will happen if the law “moves too slowly” and
does not keep pace with social change?
3. What do we call the law that Parliament has made?
4. What do we call the law that is created by the Courts?
5. When we identify our Judges as “independent”, who
or what are they independent from?
6. To whom or what do Judges have a duty?
In-Class Learning

 Legal Briefs - The adversarial system

1. Some people compare the adversarial system of justice with a
“football game”. In what ways are they similar?
2. In an adversarial system there are specific roles for lawyers and for
judges. What are these?
3. Why do lawyers owe a duty to the court?
4. In Europe many countries do not have an adversarial system of justice.
What is their system called and how does it differ from Australia’s
adversarial system?
5. What are some advantages and challenges of an adversarial system?
6. Is it better to have a legal system which reaches the right decision
using a bad process or the wrong decision using a good process? Why or
why not?
In-Class Learning

 Have you read the Legal Case Study in

Blackboard?
In-Class Learning

 Have you watched the video ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go’
1. What does it mean to you to have “brains in your head and feet in your shoes”?
2. What kinds of choices have you made recently that “only you” could have made?
3. Have you ever felt that you have been “left in a Lurch”? What did that feel like?
4. When is it not simple for you to make up your mind?
5. Have you ever been in “The Waiting Place”? What do you think Dr Seuss means? How did
you get out?
6. What are some games that you’ll play against you?
7. Why do you think Dr Seuss says, “Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.”?
8. Think about a time when you have faced up to your problems? What was it like?
9. How does it feel to know that you will succeed (98 and 3/4 per cent guaranteed)?
10. What is your mountain?
Week 2

 What we are going to do in the workshop

next week
 A review of the Course Material for Week 1
You will have access to the material 2018 LEGL1001 Notes Week 1.pdf
1. What is law?
2. Types of rules
3. Types or classes of law
4. The rule of law
5. Separation of powers
6. Responsible government
 An overview of the Course Material for Week 2
THE END!!

 See you next week – be prepared !