Cases, statutes and media reports (CSM) In legal studies, it is important that written responses are backed up by cases, statute law and media reports. This means knowing the basic facts about a certain important cases, learning some key pieces of statutory legislation, and being able to cite recent events that relate to certain topics or areas of law (media reports). Always remember the acronym CSM when writing extended responses. Ask yourself ‘Have I included some cases, statutes and media reports?’ Cases Citing cases Legal cases refer to matters brought before the courts for decision. As discussed in the textbook, cases in Australia can be heard by a number of different courts according to a jurisdiction’s court hierarchy. More minor matters might be heard before lower courts, such as the Local Court in NSW, whereas appeals or more significant matters will generally be heard by higher state or federal courts, such as the Supreme Court of New South Wales or the High Court of Australia. You should remember that most legal disputes decided through the courts are a matter of applying the facts of the case to the law that exists. In some legal cases, there might be some uncertainty as to what the law is or should be. These may be important cases in Australian law – they may help to clarify what the law should be in an area that is otherwise vague or unclear. These cases may then be frequently cited in later cases and discussions about that area of the law. Each case reported in a court will have a unique citation to identify it. This will identify the name of the case and its location in the law report in which it has been published. As with legislation, there are well‐established rules and conventions for case citations. During the course of your studies, you will need to research or refer to legal cases and you will need to use the established citation rules as outlined below. Case citations are made up of a number of components. These are: • name – this includes the names of the principal parties in the case. The name is always written in italics. • ‘v’ – most cases will be cited with two parties, separated by a ‘v’ which means ‘versus’. When reading aloud, the ‘v’ is read as ‘and’. • year – this follows the name and refers to the year the report is published (note this is not always the same year as the case). This is written in either [square brackets] or (round brackets). Square brackets indicate that the report is compiled sequentially by year, and no volume number is needed. Round brackets indicate that the law report uses sequential volume numbers, and you will need to refer to the volume to find the particular case. Cambridge University Press
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• volume number (where applicable) – as referred to above. • abbreviation – each law report series has a specific abbreviation and you will need to refer to the specific series where the case is reported. A table of the most common abbreviations is included in the table on page xi. • page number – this is the first page in the report where the specific case appears. Statutes Legislation, also known as statute, refers to laws that have been passed through state and federal parliaments, and includes acts and regulations. An example of this is the Australia Act 1986 (Cth). When citing legislation, there are four main components to consider. These are: • short title – this is the name of the act or regulation (usually specified in the legislation under section 1). This part is written in italics. The short title also includes the year of the legislation, discussed below. • year – part of the short title, the citation must include the year that the act or regulation was passed (i.e. when it received Royal Assent). This part is also written in italics. • jurisdiction – the citation must specify the jurisdiction that the legislation comes from – for example an act from New South Wales will include ‘(NSW)’ after the short title. A Federal, or Commonwealth, act will include ‘(Cth)’. Note that this part is not written in italics. Other state and territory jurisdictions are written as follows: (Vic), (Qld), (SA), (WA), (ACT), (Tas) and (NT). • any section number(s) – if a specific section needs to be referred to, this is usually written after the legislation name. For a section, this is shortened to ‘s’ (e.g. s 52); for more than one section, ‘ss’ is used (e.g. ss 5, 14). The rules also apply to bills that have not yet been passed by a parliament – the year cited will be the year the bill was introduced. The only difference is that the bill title does not appear in italics, e.g. Native Title Amendment Bill 2009 (Cth). Note that when talking about a specific act, regulations or bill, once the title is cited you should always refer to the legislation using a capital letter: e.g. ‘the Act’ or ‘the Bill’. This is different from referring to acts or bills in general, which will always use a small letter. Media reports A media report is anything that appears in the news. Most commonly media reports appear in newspapers, but media reports can also include magazine articles (e.g. Time), documentaries and articles/reports published on line. The law is a dynamic thing and sparks much public comment. Luckily for students of legal studies, the media is always carrying an item, or making a comment that is relevant to the law. It is important that you recognise this and remain aware of current events in the legal arena. This will not only help you gain a greater understanding of the concepts and content that you are covering in the course, but it will also give you relevant, up‐to‐date examples to use in your written responses. However, be aware that outrage sells, and sometimes the headline and the article have very little in common. Therefore, as you regularly peruse the media horizon for reports, evaluate the information that is being provided and be alert for bias and sales factor. Cambridge University Press
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Try keeping a media file of relevant articles throughout the year. Set up a folder (either hard copy or electronically) with three subdivisions: ‘The legal system, ‘The individual and the law’ and ‘Law in practice’. Articles relevant to any of the topics, even if they have not yet been studied in class, can be placed into plastic sleeves under the relevant heading. Make some brief notes and include these in your folder with the article. You may wish to use the ‘Media report pro forma’ supplied on this Student CD to help you with this task. Ensure that you write down the source and date of each item. You can regularly check newspaper websites, as they allow you to access their most recent articles (e.g. the Sydney Morning Herald allows you access to articles that have appeared in the previous eight days). When accessing newspaper articles electronically, it is important to do so as soon as possible as it is difficult to get old articles without being asked to pay for them. Articles can be copied in Word for easier manipulation, then placed in the relevant folder. An even better method of storage it to use a commercially available database such as Procite or Endnote or to make a database yourself. However, do not forget to evaluate each item and its source for reliability, validity, bias and usefulness. When writing a research essay, correctly cite your media reports in a consistent way in footnotes or endnotes. For example: • Sydney Morning Herald, ‘New development in gang torture case’, 9 December 2009. When writing in an exam, however, it is not necessary to remember exact titles and dates of media reports – simply placing the event or issue that has been reported in the media in a timeframe is sufficient. For example, ‘the recent debate on gang violence’, ‘in recent months’, ‘earlier this year’ or ‘in 2010’. The internet is a valuable source of information for legal studies students. However, there is a lot of misinformation posted online also. Some websites will not be updated for months at a time, so the information will be old and irrelevant; some sites are just venues for individuals or groups to promote their own agendas and views, or for businesses to sell items; and some have incorrect facts and figures. Therefore, any website accessed must be looked at for reliability, validity, bias and usefulness. The most useful sites are those provided by government departments, as these websites are dynamic and the information provided is reliable. The websites of large‐scale newspapers, magazines and television networks are useful in the same way, although it must be remembered that most of these are commercial organisations. Therefore when you surf the internet looking for information, it is important that you check the provider of the website and the last time it was updated. Cambridge University Press
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