LLB 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Productivity Commission, Family Law Act 1975, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Week 6 – Access to Law
• Australian government – aess to justie is a essetial eleet of the ule of la
ad theefoe deoay
• Oxford Companion to Philosophy – a elief fudaetal to oality that people
ought to get hat they desee
• The idea of equality is fundamental to justice and open to philosophical and political
debate
• Justie is oeed ith hua elatios i a soial ode ad the eed to alae
their particular needs and wishes with the claims of the collective order in which
they live
Formal and Substantive Justice
• Substantive – concerned with the merits of a situation and whether the actual law
and its outcome seem to be right
• Formal – focuses on rules and procedure
Access to the legal system
• 1993 – establishment of an Access to Justice Advisory Committee by the Federal
Goeet. The Coittees epot as pulished i 99 i the fo of a Atio
Plan which involved 3 key elements:
1. Equality of access to legal services
2. National equality
3. Equality before the law
Rights and Interests
• Rights and obligations are central to the law
• Criticism of the idea of legal rights:
- The rights protect the interests of the powerful
- ‘ights ae take fo gated
- Magialises ays of thikig hih diffe fo peailig oo sese
- Notio of hua eigs as popety – e.g. abolition of slavery
Invoking the Law
• 2009 – the Australia Institute conducted research into unmet legal needs, focusing
on non-criminal matters. 1001 Australians surveyed. Findings:
- 33% said they had experienced some kind of legal problem in the last 5 years. he
most common was being treated unfairly by a business
- 9% didt seek legal adie eause of the ost
- % didt seek legal adie due to lak of koledge
- 72% believe what their legal rights are
- 83% said only the very wealthy are able to protect their legal rights
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Barriers to Access
• Cost
- Expensive
- Concern about costs has led to inquiries and changes to the legal profession and
court procedures – lawyers required to provide clients with information about
costs and the basis of their calculation at an early stage
- Appliatio of opetitio poliy i the 99s:
▪ Deregulation of legal costs (disclosure requirement)
▪ Opening up of conveyancing services to non-lawyers
▪ Lessening of restrictions on advertising
▪ Changes in relations to fees – allos layes to poide seies o i,
o fee
- Other expenses:
▪ Fees and other charges from the court for using their services
▪ Attending court proceedings where time could have been used for some
other valuable purpose
• Delay
- Data collected for the Australian Law Reform Commission in 1998 revealed in the
Federal Court the median time for cases to be decided was 6.95 months from
filing to finalisation and 10% of cases took 26.77 months
- Litigation passes through a number of stages before reaching a full hearing
- Technological and social change can impact the length e.g. electronically stored
files like text messages can lead to longer trials
• Legal Aid
- Only became a significant feature in 1973
- 2010 – Federal Government announced additional funds for legal aid however
there is still an issue of insufficient funding
- provide some free advice but the scarcity of funds limits the availability of court
representation
- usually only granted to the very poor
- applicants for legal aid must pass a merit test, which assesses their prospects of
success and fall within any other guidelines
- funding may be capped so the recipient may have to contribute
- soe piate patitioes poide po oo ok – free of charge
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Justi(cid:272)e is (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:272)e(cid:396)(cid:374)ed (cid:449)ith (cid:862)hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) (cid:396)elatio(cid:374)s i(cid:374) a so(cid:272)ial o(cid:396)de(cid:396) a(cid:374)d the (cid:374)eed to (cid:271)ala(cid:374)(cid:272)e their particular needs and wishes with the claims of the collective order in which they live. Formal and substantive justice: substantive concerned with the merits of a situation and whether the actual law and its outcome seem to be right, formal focuses on rules and procedure. Access to the legal system: 1993 establishment of an access to justice advisory committee by the federal. Go(cid:448)e(cid:396)(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t. the co(cid:373)(cid:373)ittee(cid:859)s (cid:396)epo(cid:396)t (cid:449)as pu(cid:271)lished i(cid:374) (cid:1005)99(cid:1008) i(cid:374) the fo(cid:396)(cid:373) of a(cid:374) a(cid:272)tio(cid:374) Plan which involved 3 key elements: equality of access to legal services, national equality, equality before the law. Rights and interests: rights and obligations are central to the law, criticism of the idea of legal rights: The rights protect the interests of the powerful. Ma(cid:396)gi(cid:374)alises (cid:449)ays of thi(cid:374)ki(cid:374)g (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h diffe(cid:396) f(cid:396)o(cid:373) p(cid:396)e(cid:448)aili(cid:374)g (cid:862)(cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)o(cid:374) se(cid:374)se(cid:863) Notio(cid:374) of hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) (cid:271)ei(cid:374)gs as (cid:862)p(cid:396)ope(cid:396)ty(cid:863) e. g. abolition of slavery.
