Law in Context

Send us a text message with feedback Universities are created by law as corporations, separate from government and from the people who work and study in them.  In the past they were run democratically by academics or faculty members, and sometimes by students as well. Now they are run by highly paid management teams, and governed by small boards.  From the outside, legally they look similar to lar...

Send us a text message with feedback What exactly is a " State"?  It's not the same as a country, or a nation, or a government.  States do need a government to be recognised as a state, as well as a permanent population and territory, but it gets complicated.  There are parts of the world, such as Northern Cyprus and Taiwan, that have territory and a government, but are not states....

Send us a text message with feedback The adversarial system of justice came from the English common law and spread. In this one minute snapshot, we contrast it with the inquisitorial system found in non-Anglo democracies. For a full version of the episode and further reading, visit https://lawincontext.com.au/adversarial-system/ For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context...

Send us a text message with feedback Your gowned crusaders explore the concept of agency, its legal implications, and its relevance in everyday life. We discuss how agency allows individuals and companies to engage in contracts without direct involvement, the different types of authority agents can have, and the risks associated with agency relationships. We also touch on the evolving nature of ag...

Send us a text message with feedback Theories abound about why people obey the law, but in this one minute snapshot we highlight how a fair society with clear rules and effective enforcement makes it more likely that people will do the right thing.  For the full episode, go to https://lawincontext.com.au/why-do-people-obey-the-law/ For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Conte...

Send us a text message with feedback Contracts are at the heart of our economic system.  They are also dear to the hearts of many lawyers, who see contract law as embodying the idea that individuals should voluntarily bind themselves in a free society when they think it is in their interests to do so. In this episode we look at how contracts are formed and when a party might be excused from their...

Send us a text message with feedback The Rule of Law is the starting point for understanding Law in democracies.  In this one minute snapshot we say what the Rule of Law is, and what it isn't. For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

Send us a text message with feedback Torts basically are civil wrongs.  The law of torts provides remedies for people who have suffered some kind of harm at the hands of another - the tortfeasor.  The behaviour might also be a crime or a breach of contract, depending on the circumstances. Torts such as trespass and battery go back centuries, but this area of law really exploded in the 20th century...

Send us a text message with feedback For centuries there have been restrictions on suing a judge who has heard your case if you think they got it badly wrong.  You could appeal against the decision or, in theory, petition the legislature to remove the judge.  But you couldn't normally sue the judge for damages.  There were some exceptions to this rule but these have been removed in Australia...

Send us a text message with feedback No criminal justice system is perfect.  Sometimes it "miscarries" and innocent people are convicted.  The consequences can be devastating for those involved, and sometimes for society, leading to unrest or political tensions. In this episode we look at some selected miscarriages of justice from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.  We...

Send us a text message with feedback Being the victim of a crime can be highly traumatic. Some argue that the criminal justice system can make the victim re-live that trauma all over again. In this episode we look at how, historically, victims have moved away from being parties in a criminal case, to mere witnesses. This process of sidelining victim may be a necessary consequence of giving the Sta...

Send us a text message with feedback Everyone agrees that Crime and Punishment go together. But that's where the agreement ends. There are multiple aims of punishment: to inflict retribution (an eye for an eye); to deter others; to incapacitate the offender so the public is protected in the meantime; and to rehabilitate the offender so they do not re-offend after the sentence is over. Jugglin...

Send us a text message with feedback Most people are fascinated by crime, at least if they are at a safe distance from it.  It is the stuff of popular culture and serious scholarship.  Theories abound.  Might a certain amount of it be good for society if it reminds everyone of how they should behave?  Or is criminalising certain behaviour a way of oppressive governments maintaining control? In thi...

Send us a text message with feedback Like many countries in the world, Australia is a federation; it has more than one tier of government.  In this nail-biting episode, the Two Steves explain how our system came about, with the former colonies being given all legislative powers except to the extent that those powers were given and exercised by the Commonwealth.  The territories and local governmen...

Send us a text message with feedback All legal systems of previously colonised countries have grappled with the idea of land rights for the original peoples of those countries and the claims of settlers or conquerors.  Australia was an unusual case.  It wasn't exactly conquered.  Nor did the Indigenous peoples cede the land to the English settlers.   The only remaining option under internatio...

Send us a text message with feedback You might think the idea of property is straightforward.  In a way, it is.  Almost anything tangible and many things intangible are capable of being property, under the common law.  Even one of our jokes is capable of being property, assuming we actually made it up. But "property" to a lawyer is not so much about the item in question, but the rights a...

Send us a text message with feedback It's well known that for someone to be found guilty of a crime, the decision-maker must be persuaded "beyond a reasonable doubt".  This is the standard of proof.  In civil claims, the standard is "on the balance of probabilities". In criminal matters, the onus of proving to this standard is on the prosecution; and in civil claims it is...

Send us a text message with feedback Who should I trust?  If your answer is no one, the world would be a more difficult and expensive place.  Wherever someone does something on your behalf you might have to employ someone else to watch over them, and then someone else to watch over the someone else etc etc. Over the centuries, equity law has picked out certain kinds of relationships where there is...

Send us a text message with feedback In this episode we look at the body of judge-made law called Equity, which emerged in England as a separate body of case law from "the common law".  Whereas common law focuses on clear rules and rights, equity focuses on conscience and doing what is fair.  These two conceptual systems were developed in separate courts but are now applied concurrently...

Send us a text message with feedback We keep hearing about "the common law", but what exactly is it?  In this episode, we look at three separate meanings.   First, the common law describes a whole legal system, such as Australia, England, the United States and Canada.  This contrasts those jurisdictions with civil law, religious law and customary law systems.  In practice, there are many...

Send us a text message with feedback Any competent lawyer should be able to say what is the law on a given topic in their area of expertise.  However, most lawyers find it surprisingly difficult to answer persuasively the general question "what is law?". In this episode we grapple with some debates that go back centuries.  We look at the positivist approach: that law is simply whatever i...

Send us a text message with feedback In this episode, not daunted by their previous challenge to explain basic legal concepts clearly, the Two Steves take on the big one: What is Justice? Most lawyers instinctively take a procedural approach to justice.  If the rules have been followed and the judge is impartial, then the outcome is just. And yet every day we hear people say that a particular resu...

Send us a text message with feedback Myths abound about crime rates and law-breaking.  In fact, some kinds of crime are going down and others are probably going up.  A more interesting question is why so many people obey the law most of the time.  In this episode we look at the main theories about legal obedience.  There is a legitimacy theory, that if people think their society is fair they are l...

Send us a text message with feedback There is almost nothing we do in our everyday lives that does not involve corporations or companies.  From small family companies to global corporations which are larger than the economies of some countries, corporations dominate our lives.  In this episode we look at what a corporation is.  We focus on a subset of corporations; companies with a share capital w...

Send us a text message with feedback Lawyers have a very particular role in the adversarial system, and a corresponding set of ethical requirements.  In the 2000s in Victoria, Nicola Gobbo, a criminal defence barrister became a secret, registered informer with the police.  She arranged for some clients to give evidence against other clients, arguably framing them.  In one case, Faruk Orman served...