LAW 2504 - Administrative Law

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2024

The 4 main aims of the course are: 1) to teach the basic principles that govern review of administrative action by courts and tribunals; 2) to provide a critical analysis of that system; 3) to teach students to apply those principles in complex factual situations; 4) to teach students to interpret statutes while problem solving. A particular focus is placed upon judicial review, including its fundamental concepts of jurisdiction, ultra vires, and procedural fairness. The course will also cover review 'on the merits' by administrative tribunals. The course will emphasise the practical significance of the administrative law in substantive areas such as freedom of information and migration law. Topics include: State and Commonwealth avenues of review; the distinction between judicial review and review 'on the merits'; error of law and error of fact; justiciability and standing; procedural fairness; grounds of review; jurisdictional error, privative clauses and judicial review remedies.

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Course Details

Course Code	LAW 2504
Course	Administrative Law
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Law School
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate Law (LLB)
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	LAW 1504
Incompatible	LAW 2002
Restrictions	Available to LLB and B.Criminology with B.Laws and BArts Advanced with B.Laws students only
Assessment	Typically to include class participation, online quiz, interim problem or research essay, and final exam

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Joshua Curtis

Email: joshua.curtis@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Please see the Learning Activities Summary below for a week-by-week breakdown of topics to be covered.

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

Analyse the advanced principles of administrative law, and evaluate complex legal information, with a particular emphasis upon legislation.
Apply administrative law principles to complex legal problems and critique the operation of administrative law from a theoretical perspective, through individual work.
Structure and sustain concise and cohesive written arguments for a legal audience in the field of administrative law.
Conduct legal research and analyse government decision-making.
Analyse the impact and operation of administrative law from policy perspectives and identify and explain government accountability for the exercise of public power.
Reflect on their ability to effectively undertake work as an administrative decision maker, or to challenge administrative decisions.

The Legal Practitioners' Education and Admissions Council (LPEAC) sets rules for the academic requirements for admission to legal practice in South Australia. Students must demonstrate a satisfactory level of understanding and application of 11 core areas of legal knowledge (known as the "Priestley Topics"). This course is designed to complete students’ understandings of the following Priestley Topics for Administrative Law:

Common law and statutory avenues of judicial review at Commonwealth and State level
Grounds of judicial review
Remedies
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Statutory Review
Freedom of Information

Note the following topics will be covered by students in the subjects Principles of Public Law and Constitutional law:
Topic 1: Organisation and Structure of the Administration; Topic 2: Administrative Law Theory; Topic 6: Crown Immunity.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	2
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	3
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	4
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	5
Attribute 7: Digital capabilities Graduates are well prepared for living, learning and working in a digital society.	4
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	6

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Required textbook: Judith Bannister, Anna Olijnyk & Stephen McDonald, Government Accountability: Australian Administrative Law (Cambridge University Press, 3rd ed, 2023).

You will be expected to be familiar with the details of relevant legislation, in particular the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth); Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth); Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth); South Australian Civil and Adminsitrative Tribunal Act 2013 (SA); Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth); and Freedom of Information Act 1992 (SA).

Links to case law and legislation are provided on MyUni.

Lecture and seminar readings, seminar questions and lecture recordings will be posted on MyUni.

Recommended Resources

The leading text in Administrative Law is Mark Aronson, Matthew Groves and Greg Weeks, Judicial Review of Administrative Action, (Thomson Reuters, 7th ed, 2021). This is an excellent work and, although it does not cover the entire course, it usefully supplements the prescribed materials with a more detailed theoretical treatment of the complexities of judicial review. Students are well advised to consult this text throughout the year.

We encourage you to explore for yourself the large and growing administrative law literature. Two Australian journals particularly devoted to administrative law are the Public Law Review and the Australian Journal of Administrative Law, though generalist journals such as the Federal Law Review frequently contain relevant articles. The United Kingdom journal Public Law is also valuable. There are also many relevant collections of essays and government reports, which are in the library. Particular mention should be made of the publications of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law (AIAL). This organization publishes the AIAL Forum 3-4 times annually, containing a range of articles on administrative law issues. The AIAL also holds an annual national administrative law conference, the proceedings of which it also publishes.

Online Learning

MyUni will be used to post announcements, additional lecture materials (including PowerPoint slides) and information about assessment. It includes detailed week-by-week information about lectures and seminars and a discussion forum. It also includes links to additional materials such as cases and leigslation, Law School and University policies and procedures and the online extension request form.

Students are expected to check MyUni regularly to keep up to date with these materials throughout the course.

MyUni site: https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/

Learning & Teaching Modes

This class is made up of 2 components: lectures and seminars. You will need to attend both to perform well in the course. Your participation mark is based on your seminar attendance and active participation.

Lectures. Lectures present the relevant topics and clarify, focus and extend student understanding of the course materials. Lecture
PowerPoint slides will be made available shortly before each lecture under the module for that week. These slides are not substitutes for your own class notes. If you have questions about the lecture content, please e-mail the instructor or raise them in your seminar.

Seminars. Seminars involve student participation in smaller groups. They are designed to reinforce topics covered in the lectures and course materials through focused discussion and hands-on exercises. Students are expected to attend each seminar having read and given thought to the assigned readings for that week. Students may be called upon and will be expected to participate. Discussions may occasionally grapple with contentious topics where a range of different views may be expressed. While a lively and spirited discussion is encouraged, students are expected to respect different perspectives to ensure that the classroom environment is one where all students feel comfortable to participate. In order to maintain this environment, it is important that discussions are carried out in the appropriately respectful language, tone and manner. Absent exceptional circumstances, recordings of seminars will not be made available. If you miss a seminar, you are responsible for catching-up on the missed content (e.g., by asking for a classmate's notes). You may also lose participation marks.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Contact time: attend 2 hours lectures plus 1 hour seminar each week. This amounts to 36 hours of formal class time across the semester.

Preparation time: In addition to attending formal classes it is anticipated that students will do substantial independent work to prepare for classes and to complete the course assignments. The University expects full time students (those undertaking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies.

Learning Activities Summary

Schedule
Week	Lectures	Seminars
Week 1	Introduction to Administrative Law Course Overview What is Administrative Law? The Executive and Accountability Statutory Interpretation Alice Creek scenario overview	Seminar No 1 Administrative decision making - make a FOI decision and give your reasons
Week 2	Freedom of Information Statutory interpretation	Seminar No 2 Freedom of information
Week 3	Merits Review Commonwealth and South Australia	Seminar No 3 South Australian Merits review
Week 4	Findings of law and fact Statutory reviews on questions of law Justiciability Standing	Seminar No 4 Statutory reviews on questions of law Statutory interpretation to determine jurisdiction
Week 5	Introduction to Judicial review Common Law and AD(JR) Act Jurisdictional error	Seminar No 5 How to approach a judicial review problem Introduction to judicial review
Week 6	Grounds of judicial review Procedural fairness Hearing rule and bias	Seminar No 6 Grounds of review – Procedural fairness
Week 7	Grounds of judicial review Acting beyond the scope of a power	Seminar No 7 Various grounds of review
Week 8	Grounds of judicial review Improper exercise of power	Seminar No 8 Various grounds of review
	*MID-SEMESTER BREAK*
Week 9	Consequences of unlawful action Remedies Privative Clauses	Seminar No 9 Consequences of unlawful action Remedies
Week 10	Delegated Legislation	Seminar No 10 Delegated Legislation
Week 11	Jurisdictional error revisited Exam proparation	Seminar No 11 Exam preparation - Past exam questions
Week 12	Review of Past exam Student directed Q&A	Seminar No 12 Exam preparation - Past exam questions

Specific Course Requirements

There are no additional requirements for completion of this course other than described elsewhere in this document.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Task Type	% of final mark	Due Dates	Length	Redeemable	Learning Outcomes
Class Participation	Individual	5%	Week 2 - Week 11	10 seminars	No	1
Merits Review Exercise	Individual	30%	Week 6	1500 words	Yes	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Quiz	Individual	5%	Week 10	10-15 questions	No	1, 2, 5, 6
Exam	Individual	60% (or 90%)	Exam Period Semester 2	2.5 hours	No	2, 3, 6

Assessment Detail

1. Class Participation 5%

Students will be assessed on their attendance and participation in the seminar class in which they are enrolled from Weeks 2 to 11. Students must prepare for each seminar class by completing the required readings in advance and attempting to answer seminar questions during the allocated classtime. Students will be required to contribute to small and large group discussions and listen attentively. Seminar leaders will be responsible for assessing attendance and participation for each student. In order to receive credit for participation, students must attend the seminar class in which they are enrolled. Students whose ability to participate is affected by a physical or mental health condition should contact the course co-ordinator as soon as possible to negotiate alternative assesment. Seminar leaders will discuss their approach to assessing seminar participation in the first seminar.

2. Merits Review Exercise 30%

This assignment is redeemable, so long as a bona fide effort, as judged by the Course Coordinator, has been demonstrated.

The Merits Review Exercise will be due in Week 7.

This assignment will consist of a problem question similar to the questions to be set in the exam. The assignment will assess the material covered up to and including Week 5.

This assignment will be assessed against the following criteria:

a. Demonstrated understanding of administrative law and theory;
b. Ability to identify relevant legal issues and case law;
c. Capacity to apply the law in a logical and considered manner;
d. Ability to construct an argument in the student's own words;
e. Critical analysis of the law and legal concepts;
f. Written communication skills;
g. Proper and accurate citation of sources.

Further details, including the assignment question and instructions, will be posted on MyUni.

3. Quiz 5%

The quiz is compulsory and not redeemable. Students who fail to submit the quiz will receive 0 for this component.

The quiz will focus on materals covered in the course up to and including Week 9. It will consist of 15 multiple choice questions. It will be held online through MyUni.

The quiz must be submitted in Week 10.

Further details, including the access window for the quiz and the applicable time limit, will be posted on MyUni.

4. Final Exam 60% (or 90% if the Merits Review Exercise is redeemed).

There will be a 2.5 hour exam. The exam will consist of short answer and problem-style questions. Further details will be provided in lectures toward the end of the semester.

Submission

All assessments will be submitted and monitored through text or code comparative software (e.g. Turnitin) where possible.

Late Submission Penalties

When an assessment is submitted after the due date, without an extension, 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend and public holidays. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc.

Word Length Penalties

5% of the total mark possible for a written assessment will be deducted for every 100 words (or part thereof) by which it exceeds a stipulated word limit. For example, a 3,000 word essay graded at 63% will have 5% deducted if it is between 3,001 and 3,100 words long for a final mark of 58%. If the essay is between 3,101 and 3,200 words long, 10% will be deducted for a final mark of 53%, etc. Word limits include all words in the text, in headings, in quotations, but exclude citations in footnotes. Any separate cover page, table of contents, bibliography or list of sources is excluded from the word limit. If the word limit is misstated, this may be regarded as academic dishonesty.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

Student feedback The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider.
Student Support
The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Student Life Counselling Support
The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Academic Integrity
All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia. Academic Integrity is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator