AC9HC9K03 – Year 9 Humanities and Social Sciences: Laws and citizens

This Content Descriptor from Year 9 Humanities and Social Sciences provides the specific knowledge and skills students should learn. Use it to plan lessons, create learning sequences, and design assessments that align with the Australian Curriculum v9.

Elaborations

• • locating information about the matters that some of the different courts and tribunals deal with and how they enact the law and resolve disputes, and developing a summary for a state jurisdiction and the federal jurisdiction; for example, the Magistrates Court is the first level of the court system and most criminal cases and civil actions commence at this court
• • creating a visual representation of the Australian court system and each court’s jurisdiction and place in the relevant hierarchy; for example, The High Court is the highest court in Australia and decides cases of special federal significance, including challenges to the constitutional validity of laws, and hears appeals from federal, state and territory courts' decisions
• • using sample cases to investigate the differences between civil and criminal law, and how the courts apply and interpret criminal laws and resolve civil disputes
• • exploring how court judgements impact on the development of law; such as the role of statutory interpretation and the creation of precedent; for example, the decision in the Mabo Case (1992) overturned the legal concept of terra nullius and established the concept of native title

Achievement Standard This Supports

This Content Descriptor contributes to the following Achievement Standard: