The Australian Law Reports are a series of law reports which report cases from the High Court of Australia, Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Courts of the states and territories exercising federal jurisdiction. The reports are not officially authorised. After each authorised series they are the most often cited series of law reports in Australia. They were previously called the Australian Argus Law Reports. [1]
The Family Court of Australia is a superior Australian federal court of record which deals with family law matters, such as divorce applications, parenting disputes, and the division of property when a couple separate. Together with the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, it covers family law matters in all states and territories of Australia except for Western Australia, which has a separate Family Court. Its core function is to determine cases with the most complex law, facts and parties, to cover specialised areas in family law, and to provide national coverage as the national appellate court for family law matters.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers. In other parts of the world, such as China, a magistrate was responsible for administration over a particular geographic area. Today, in some jurisdictions, a magistrate is a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, and typically deals with more minor or preliminary matters. In other jurisdictions, magistrates may be volunteers without formal legal training who perform a judicial role with regard to minor matters.
Case citation is a system used by legal professionals to identify past court case decisions, either in series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. Case citations are formatted differently in different jurisdictions, but generally contain the same key information.
Law enforcement in Australia is one of the three major components of the country's justice system, along with courts and corrections. Law enforcement officers are employed by all three levels of government – federal, state/territory, and local.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is a law enforcement agency established by the Australian federal government on 1 July 2016, following the merger of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) and CrimTrac. It has specialist investigative capabilities and delivers and maintains national information sharing systems.
James George Drake, often cited as J. G. Drake, was an Australian politician. After a number of years in Queensland colonial politics, he was elected to the Senate at the first federal election in 1901. He subsequently held ministerial office under prime ministers Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin, and George Reid, serving as Postmaster-General (1901–1903), Minister for Defence (1903), Attorney-General (1903–1904), and Vice-President of the Executive Council (1904–1905).
The Australian or Commonwealth Government is the federal or national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. It is abbreviated to Cth when suffixing bills and Acts of Parliament. Like many other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government is made up of three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial.
On 22 September 1951, a referendum was held in Australia which sought approval for the federal government to alter the constitution to give Parliament the power to make laws regarding communism and communists, so that the Parliament is empowered to instate a law similar to the Communist Party Dissolution Act of 1950. It was not carried.
The Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) are the authorised reports of decisions of the High Court of Australia. The Commonwealth Law Reports are published by the Lawbook Company, a division of Thomson Reuters. James Merralls AM QC was the editor of the Reports from 1969 until his death in 2016.
Commonwealth v Tasmania was a significant Australian court case, decided in the High Court of Australia on 1 July 1983. The case was a landmark decision in Australian constitutional law, and was a significant moment in the history of conservation in Australia. The case centred on the proposed construction of a hydro-electric dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, which was supported by the Tasmanian government, but opposed by the Australian federal government and environmental groups.
Law reports or reporters are series of books that contain judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. When a particular judicial opinion is referenced, the law report series in which the opinion is printed will determine the case citation format.
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.
Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) is an Australian government financial intelligence agency set up to monitor financial transactions to identify money laundering, organised crime, tax evasion, welfare fraud and terrorism financing. AUSTRAC was established in 1989 under the Financial Transaction Reports Act 1988. It implements in Australia the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which Australia joined in 1990.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) is an Australian tribunal that conducts independent merits review of administrative decisions made under Commonwealth laws of the Australian Government. The AAT review decisions made by Australian Government ministers, departments and agencies, and in limited circumstances, decisions made by state government and non-government bodies. They also review decisions made under Norfolk Island laws. It is not a court and not part of the Australian court hierarchy; however, its decisions are subject to review by the Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. The AAT was established by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 and started operation in 1976.
The Native Title Act 1993 (NTA) is a law passed by the Australian Parliament, the purpose of which is "to provide a national system for the recognition and protection of native title and for its co-existence with the national land management system". The Act was passed by the Keating Government following the High Court's decision in Mabo v Queensland (1992). The Act commenced operation on 1 January 1994.
In Kruger v Commonwealth, also known as the Stolen Generation Case, the High Court of Australia rejected a challenge to the validity of legislation applying in the Northern Territory between 1918 and 1957 which authorised the removal of Aboriginal children from their families. The majority of the bench found that the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 was beneficial in intent and had neither the purpose of genocide nor that of restricting the practice of religion. The High Court unanimously held there was no separate action for a breach of any constitutional right.
The NSW Law Reports are the official reports of the courts of New South Wales, Australia. The reports are published by The Council of Law Reporting for New South Wales and cover selected cases heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Re Alex was a legal case decided in the Family Court of Australia on 13 April 2004. It examined the rights of a thirteen-year-old adolescent affirming his maleness and seeking hormonal medical treatment "Sex Affirmation Treatment."
The Office of Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) is an Australian Commonwealth government agency established under the Parliamentary Counsel Act 1970 (Cth) within the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s portfolio. OPC drafts all government Bills that are introduced into the federal Parliament, legislative instruments made by the Governor-General, and a range of other delegated legislation. It also manages the Federal Register of Legislation to provide access to authorised, up-to-date versions of Commonwealth laws.