A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single judge could describe that judge as 'their tribunal'. Many governmental bodies that are titled 'tribunals' are so described to emphasize that they are not courts of normal jurisdiction. For example, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is a body specially constituted under international law; in Great Britain, employment tribunals are bodies set up to hear specific employment disputes. In many cases, the word tribunal implies a judicial body with a lesser degree of formality than a court, to which the normal rules of evidence and procedure may not apply, and whose presiding officers are frequently neither judges nor magistrates. Private judicial bodies are also often styled 'tribunals'. However, the word tribunal is not conclusive of a body's function–for example, in Great Britain, the Employment Appeal Tribunal is a superior court of record.
In Australia, the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title is referred to as native title, which is "the recognition by Australian law that Aboriginal people have rights and interests to their land that come from their traditional laws and customs". The concept recognises that in certain cases there was and is a continued beneficial legal interest in land held by local Aboriginal Australians which survived the acquisition of radical title to the land by the Crown at the time of sovereignty. Native title can co-exist with non-Aboriginal proprietary rights and in some cases different Aboriginal groups can exercise their native title over the same land.
The judiciary of Australia comprises judges who sit in federal courts and courts of the States and Territories of Australia. The High Court of Australia sits at the apex of the Australian court hierarchy as the ultimate court of appeal on matters of both federal and State law.
The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory is the highest court of the Australian Capital Territory. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters and hears the most serious criminal matters.
Federal tribunals in the United States are those tribunals established by the federal government of the United States for the purpose of deciding the constitutionality of federal laws and for resolving other disputes about federal laws. They include both Article III tribunals as well as adjudicative entities which are classified as Article I or Article IV tribunals. Some of the latter entities are also formally denominated as courts, but they do not enjoy certain protections afforded to Article III courts. These tribunals are described in reference to the article of the United States Constitution from which the tribunal's authority stems. The use of the term "tribunal" in this context as a blanket term to encompass both courts and other adjudicative entities comes from section 8 of Article I of the Constitution, which expressly grants Congress the power to constitute tribunals inferior to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast is the home of the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland established under the Judicature Act 1978. This comprises the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, High Court of Northern Ireland and the Crown Court in Northern Ireland. This building in Chichester Street was built between 1928 and 1933 by James Grey West and is a local landmark. The building was opened in 1933 by His Excellency The 3rd Duke of Abercorn, Governor of Northern Ireland. The architect was Sir Richard Allison. It suffered from bomb damage in 1990 but has since been restored.
Government in the Commonwealth of Australia is exercised on three levels: federal, states and territories, and local government.
The Privacy Act 1988 is an Australian law dealing with privacy. Section 14 of the Act stipulates a number of privacy rights known as the Information Privacy Principles (IPPs). These principles apply to Australian Government and Australian Capital Territory agencies or private sector organizations contracted to these governments, as well as to organizations and small businesses who provide a health service. The principles govern when and how personal information can be collected by these government agencies. Information can only be collected if it is relevant to the agencies' functions. Upon this collection, that law mandates that Australians have the right to know why information about them is being acquired and who will see the information. Those in charge of storing the information have obligations to ensure such information is neither lost nor exploited. An Australian will also have the right to access the information unless this is specifically prohibited by law.
The supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and highcourt of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are not subject to further review by any other court. Supreme courts typically function primarily as appellate courts, hearing appeals from decisions of lower trial courts, or from intermediate-level appellate courts.
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a central or state election commission, an election board, an electoral council or an electoral court. Election commissions can be independent, mixed, judicial or executive. They may also be responsible for electoral boundary delimitation. In federations there may be a separate body for each subnational government. The election commission has a duty to perform election related activities in an orderly manner. For election related problems, Election Commission is responsible.
Dean Mildren, is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. He was appointed to the Court on 27 June 1991, and retired February 2013. He is sworn in as an Acting Judge of the Court, so from time to time still adjudicates on cases in the Northern Territory.
The Mental Health Review Tribunal is a specialist tribunal established in the Northern Territory, a territory of Australia which has jurisdiction to deal with mental health issues in the territory. It has exclusive jurisdiction in terms of most mental health issues, although it may share jurisdiction on some issue with other courts, such as the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. The tribunal came into existence in 1998 and it is located on Level 3, 9–11 Cavenagh Street, Darwin.
Ombudsmen in Australia are independent agencies which assist when a dispute arises between individuals and industry bodies or government agencies. Government ombudsman services are free to the public, like many other ombudsman and dispute resolution services, and are a means of resolving disputes outside of the court systems. Australia has an ombudsman assigned for each state; as well as an ombudsman for the Commonwealth of Australia. As laws differ between states just one process, or policy, cannot be used across the Commonwealth. All government bodies are within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman.
Aboriginal land rights in Australia are return of lands to Aboriginal Australians by the Commonwealth, state or territory governments of Australia based on recognition of dispossession. Different types of land rights laws exist in Australia, allowing for the renewed ownership of land to Aboriginals [Aboriginal Australians] under various conditions. Land rights schemes are in place in the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. The land titles may recognise traditional interest in the land and protect those interests by giving Aboriginal people legal ownership of that land. Plus:
A mental health tribunal is a specialist tribunals (hearings) empowered by law to adjudicate disputes about mental health treatment, primarily by conducting independent reviews of patients diagnosed with mental disorders who are detained in psychiatric hospitals, or under outpatient commitment, and who may be subject to involuntary treatment.
Sir John Angus Nimmo was an Australian judge. From 1972 to 1974 he was Chief Justice of Fiji.
The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) is a tribunal in the Australian Capital Territory.
