Year 10 Legal Studies - Term 1

1. Court Structure

2. • Our courts have a hierarchy federally as well as for each state
• Different courts hear different issues and some issues can be
appealed and so move up through courts

5. • Courts often have two jurisdictions:
• Original
• Appellate
• Original is the jurisdiction an issue/case is heard the first time
• If the outcome is not desirable, either party (prosecution or
defense) can appeal the decision (for a legal reason)
• The issue then goes to the appellate jurisdiction
• The appellate jurisdiction can be considered slightly higher
than the original jurisdiction of the same court
• ie. The appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Qld is
slightly higher than the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
of Australia

6. Federal Courts
• The High Court of Australia has jurisdiction over:
• Constitutional matters
• Interpretation of the Australian Constitution, for example, whether the Qld. Govt. can
impose a new tax (original jurisdiction)
• Appeals from the State Courts of Appeal, Family Court of Australia and Federal
Court of Australia on civil and criminal cases (appellate jurisdiction)

7. • The Family Court of Australia has jurisdiction (original and
appellate) over:
• Family law matters including divorce, maintenance, property
settlements, rights of children following divorce (but no
jurisdiction over criminal cases)

8. • The Federal Court of Australia has jurisdiction (original and
appellate) over:
• Specific areas of law including competition laws, consumer laws,
bankruptcy, taxation law issues, immigration issues, a small
number of criminal cases

9. State Courts
• The Court of Appeal hears from:
• Civil and criminal decisions of Supreme Court, and some
decisions of the District Court (no original jurisdiction)
• Consists of 3 or 5 judges

10. • The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over:
• Appeals from the District Court (appellate jurisdiction)
• The most serious criminal offences that attract maximum prison
sentences of more than 14 years (eg. Murder, manslaughter)
(original jurisdiction)
• Offences by children such as murder, attempted murder, treason
and major drug offences
• Civil cases involving amounts more than $750,000 (no maximum
$ limit)

11. • The District Court has jurisdiction over:
• Appeals from the Magistrate Court (appellate jurisdiction)
• Most criminal offences that attract a maximum prison sentence
of less than 14 years (eg. Stealing, dangerous driving, rape)
(original jurisdiction)
• Civil cases involving amounts between $150,000 and $750,000
(original jurisdiction)

12. • The Magistrate Court has jurisdiction over:
• Minor criminal offences that may or may not attract a prison
sentence (eg. Drink driving, smoking marijuana)
• Civil cases involving amounts less than $50,000
• Domestic violence matters
• No appellate jurisdiction other than for tribunals
• Appeals from various tribunals (eg. The Small Claims Tribunal)
• Note that the Govt. has set up tribunals to have jurisdiction over
special types of cases

13. • There are also specialist courts at various levels, such as:
• Children’s Court (part of the District Court)
• For charges against children under 17
• Coroner’s Court (part of the Magistrates Court)
• To investigate the cause of death of people who die suddenly,
suspiciously or without obvious reason
• Drug Court (part of the Magistrates Court)
• To deal with sentencing people who have pleaded guilty to drug-
related offences

14. • The court hierarchy is important because:
• It is useful to know in which court to bring a legal action
• It is useful to know which court will hear an appeal from a
decision