The Australian court system

australian legal system image

Learning objectives

This module deals with finding information on the Australian court system. By the end of this module, you will be able to:

locate information on the courts which make up the Australian court system
find court decisions
locate trial transcripts and other court records.

The structure of the Australian court system

Australia has a complex court system for such a young country. In addition to the Federal courts, each State and Territory has its own court hierarchy. In a fundamental sense, however, Australia has a single system. Although the different Supreme Courts are not bound by the decisions of the Supreme Courts in other States or Territories, they share a single court of appeal, the High Court of Australia.

Federal courts

High Court of Australia

The High Court sits at the apex of the Australian legal system. It hears appeals from Full Court of the Federal and Family Courts, as well as from the Supreme Courts. In addition to its appellate jurisdiction, the High Court decides cases of special Federal signficance. These include constitutional challenges to the validity of legislation and the legality of State, Territory and Federal actions. High Court decisions are binding on all other Australian courts and there are no appeals from decisions of the Full Court.

High Court decisions, transcripts and Bulletins are available at the AustLII site. The High Court site includes the Court's Rules and Practice Directions, as well as the text of Speeches by present and past Justices of the High Court. The last are significant sources of legal commentary.

The rule of precedent in relation to the High Court are that a single justice is not required to follow the decision of a previous justice, but must follow decisions of the Full Court (consisting of two ore more justices). The Full Court is not bound by the decisions of earlier Full Courts.

Decisions of the High Court are generally presented some time after the hearing. Each justice publishes a separate decision, and where decisions are not unanimous, the majority prevails. As might be expected, High Court decisions are an rich source of divergent views on legal doctrine.

Trial transcripts as a research tool

It is sometimes forgotten that court judgements are only part of the story. In trials before a jury, the court will not issue a decision. Trial transcripts provide the text of directions given by judges to juries, as well as the evidence presented to the court. Fortunately for researchers, an increasing number of courts are providing transcripts on the Web. This practice, however, has a number of privacy implications. The Family Court only makes transcripts available to the parties to the proceedings or their lawyers. What are some of the issues involved when courts decide to make the proceedings of transcripts freely available or available to all for a fee? How can transcripts be used to gain insights into the operation of the Australian legal system.

Federal Court of Australia

Most civil matters arising under Federal law are dealt with by the Federal Court. The Federal Court consist of a single judge or a Full Court of three judges. The Full Court hears appeals from decisions of single judges of the Federal Court and from State and Territory courts. The Full Court may also hear appeals from tribunals such as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Decisions of the Federal Court of Australia are available from the AustLII site. Court transcripts are not available online, but only on application. Federal Court Rules are available from the ComLaw site.

Family Court of Australia

The Family Court of Australia has jurisdiction over all marriage-related cases in Australia, including children born of de facto relationships (except in Western Australia). The Family Court shares this jurisdiction with the Federal Magistrates Court, which deals with less complex cases. When dealing with first instance cases, the Family Court is presided over by a single judge. A Full Court of three judges hears appeals on matters of family law. Decisions of the Family Court are available from AustLII. Practice Directions are available from the Family Court site. The Family Court issues an extensive range of publications, which are posted on its site.

Federal Magistrates Court

Established in 2000, the Federal Magistrates Court deals with less complex Federal matters, mostly those previously dealt with by the Federal Court and the Family Court. Its areas of competence include family law, human rights, migration, bankruptcy and industrial law. Judgments of the Federal Magistrates Court are available from the Court's site and from AustLII.

Federal Tribunals

In addition to the courts, the Commonwealth has established a number of tribunals to deal with disputes in specific areas, such as human rights, immigration, native title and industrial relations.

Tribunals are intended to be more informal than courts, and to provide quicker and more cost-effective forms of dispute resolution. Tribunals have range of functions. These include:

the review of decisions made by Commonwealth government agencies and departments
dispute resolution in areas such as native title, industrial relations or consumer protection
the making of original decisions.

Unlike the courts, tribunals can review the merits of decisions made by government agencies as well as their lawfulness.

The main Commonwealth tribunals include:

Tribunal rules, decisions and other documents are generally available at the site of the agency in question. AustLII also has a database of tribunal decisions.

State and Territory Courts

Supreme Courts

The superior court in each State or Territory is termed the Supreme Court. The Supreme Courts have appellate and some original jurisdiction, dealing with both civil and criminal jurisdictions.

Intermediate and lower courts

There are usually two levels of courts below the Supreme Court in each State or Territory. These are District or County Courts and Magistrates or Local Courts.A judge usually presides over a Disctrict Court while either a magistrate or a justice of the peace presides over a Local Court.

Specialist courts and tribunals

The States and Territories also have specialist courts. To take NSW as an example, specialist courts include the Children’s Court, the Coroner’s Court, the Drug Court and the Industrial Relations Commission in Court Session. The State also has a wide range of tribunals: Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Dust Diseases Tribunal, Government and Related Employees Appeal Tribunal, Guardianship Tribunal, Mental Health Review Tribunal, Residential Tribunal and many others (links to the sites of all NSW tribunals are available at th NSW LawLink site). In many cases, the Web sites of the individual court or tribunal are the best source of information, although AustLII also includes decisions of many specialist courts and tribunals.

Online sources materials on State and Territory courts

Links to past decisions and other information related to State and Territory courts and tribunals are available below. Note: this list is not exhaustive, the number of minor tribunals and specialised courts is too great to make a complete listing practicable or desirable.

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

Summary

This module dealt with the following:

finding information on the courts and tribunals which make up the Australian court system
locating court decisions
finding trial transcripts and other court records.

Contents