Legal & non-legal rules Legal Studies 3C

Rules tell us what we can and cannot do or what we can expect in dealing with others. Rules prevent or resolve the conflicts that are inevitable when people live or interact in groups.

Legal rules: applicable to the whole community Legal rules: applicable to the whole community. They are made by a law-making body, such as parliament. Legal rules are known as laws. A legal rule is enforceable through the law (courts). Non-legal rules: made by individuals or groups in society, such as parents and schools. A non-legal rule is enforceable by the people who make the rule.

Make a list of everything you did today, from when you woke up until you arrived at school. Now, think about all the legal and non-legal rules associated with your day. Make a list.

A law is a rule which: Is made by the State (Commonwealth, State, Territory, Local Government) Has a purpose, which is to regulate the behaviour of all the members of society Can be enforced by the state, through the courts.

Why are laws needed? Legal Studies 3C

“Life is nasty, brutish and short.” Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679 “Life is nasty, brutish and short.”

‘Right’ and ‘wrong’ What makes something right or wrong? - consequences? - inherent?

Are all laws ‘right’? Euthanasia Protesting Medicinal Marijuana

Laws are needed to (page 3 of textbook): Provide social cohesion and reflect values of the majority Provide a code of acceptable behaviour Protect individual rights Provide mechanisms for resolving disputes Meet changing values and needs

Scenario 1: A speed limit of 80km/h will be in force on Tasmanian gravel roads from today (01/02/2014). The Government reduced the speed in a bid to increase safety on rural roads. Two-thirds of the state’s 37 fatal crashes last year were in 100km/h speed zones, many on rural roads.

Scenario 2: One punch killers who were drunk or on drugs face a mandatory minimum sentence of eight years in jail under new legislation passed in the NSW Parliament in January 2014.

Scenario 3: Employment law mediates the relationship between employees, trade unions, and the government. Employment law concerns employee’s rights at work, employment standards, conditions and employers rights and responsibilities.

Scenario 4: Under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 (Tas), a person must not make a false or misleading representation in an application or document under this Act, knowing it to be false or misleading.

Scenario 5: NSW Police have charged nearly 200 people during this weekend’s three day blitz aimed at drink driving. Operation Drink Drive 2 saw police carry out more than 150,000 breath tests on drivers across the state. Police arrested and charged 197 drivers with being over the legal alcohol limit.

Scenario 6: Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 – the objects of this Act are to: Improve public health by discouraging people from taking up smoking, or using tobacco products; And encouraging people to give up smoking, and to stop using tobacco products; And discouraging people who have given up smoking, or who have stopped using tobacco products, from relapsing; And reducing people’s exposure to smoke from tobacco products.

Scenario 7: A former senior Victorian corrections officer has been awarded $125,000 damages against the Department of Justice for workplace bullying.

Scenario 8: Gai Waterhouse has been fined $2000 after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of negligence in relation to the race day treatment of her 2013 Melbourne Cup runner Tres Blue.

Scenario 9: Wearing a correctly adjusted seatbelt is one of the simplest ways of reducing the risk of serious injury or death in the event of a motor vehicle crash. This is true whether you are sitting in the front seat or the back seat and it is the reason that by law everyone must wear a seatbelt in Australia. Many lives have been saved and serious injuries reduced as a result of these laws, which require drivers and passengers to wear seatbelts if they are fitted to a vehicle.