Legal Exam Terms Chapter 1

Front 1

Bicameral

Back 1

Means ‘two houses

of parliament’. All parliaments in

Australia except that of Queensland

and the territories have two houses.

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Cabinet

Back 2

Cabinet consists of the

prime minister and senior government

ministers who have been placed in

charge of a government department.

It is a policy-making body; that is,

it decides which laws should be

introduced into parliament.

Front 3

Crown

Back 3

The authority of the Queen

is represented in Australia by the

governor-general (federal) and the

governor of each state.

Front 4

Federation

Back 4

A union of sovereign

states that relinquish some powers

to a central authority to form one

nation. Australia is a federation of

six independent states with a federal

body known as the Commonwealth

Parliament. Each state parliament and

the Commonwealth Parliament have

their own powers. Some powers are

shared between the Commonwealth

Parliament and the states. The

territories come under the jurisdiction

of the Commonwealth Parliament.

Front 5

Government

Back 5

Government is

formed by the political party that

governs the country (or state).

This is the party that achieves the

largest number of members voted

into the lower house (the House of

Representatives at a federal level and

the Legislative Assembly at a state

level). All members of parliament

who belong to this political party

form the government. Government

does not make laws – this is the role

of parliament. Government decides

which laws should be introduced to

parliament.

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Legislation

Back 6

Laws made by parliament,

known as Acts of parliament or

statutes.

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Minister

Back 7

A government minister is

a member of parliament who is also a

member of the political party that has

formed government, and has some

particular responsibility such as being

in charge of a government department.

For example, in 2014 the Hon Peter

Dutton is the federal Minister for

Health and Minister for Sport, and

has responsibility for financing and

providing medical services through

entities such as Medicare.

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Parliament

Back 8

Parliament is the

supreme law-making body consisting

of all elected members of both houses

from all political parties and the

Crown’s representative. The main role

of parliament is to make laws.

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Prime Minister

Back 9

The member of

parliament who leads the political

party that has formed government

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Representative Government

Back 10

Representative government refers to a

government that represents the view of

the majority of the people.

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Responsible Government

Back 11

The

executive government (prime minister,

senior ministers and government

departments) is accountable to

parliament, and can only continue to

govern as long as it has the support of

the lower house of parliament. If the

government loses the support of the

lower house then it must resign.

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Royal Assent

Back 12

Royal assent is the

signing of a proposed law by the

Crown’s representative before it

becomes law.

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Separation of Powers

Back 13

The principle of

separation of powers refers to the fact

that there are three separate types of

powers in our parliamentary system.

These are legislative power, executive

power and judicial power. Judicial

power is separate from legislative

power and executive power.

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Statute

Back 14

Also known as an Act of

parliament, this is another term for

legislation.

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Supremacy of Parliament

Back 15

Also

referred to as sovereignty of

parliament. This refers to the concept

that the final law-making power rests

with parliament. Parliament can repeal

and amend its own previous legislation

and can pass legislation to override

common law.

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Westminster Principles

Back 16

The set

of principles that underpin our

parliamentary system, inherited

from the United Kingdom, known

as the Westminster system. These

are the principles of representative

government, responsible government,

the separation of powers, the

structure of state and Commonwealth

parliaments, and the roles played

by the Crown and the houses of

parliament.

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Bill

Back 17

a proposed law or change to an existing law to be debated by parliament

Front 18

Coalition

Back 18

a group of two or more political parties

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Commonwealth Government

Back 19

the political party or coalition of parties that has won a majority ofthe seats in the House of Representatives

Front 20

Constitution

Back 20

a set of rules that determines the structure of government and the law-making powers within a sovereign state

Front 21

Constitutional Monarchy

Back 21

a form of government in which the monarch’s powers arelimited and the main law-making power resides with a parliament or similardemocratically elected body

Front 22

Double Dissolution

Back 22

both houses of the Commonwealth Parliament are dissolved and all membersare required to face an election, unlike a scheduled election when only halfthe senators are up for re-election

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Governor- General

Back 23

the Queen’s representative at the federal level

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House Of Representatives

Back 24

the lower house of the federal parliament, withapproximately twice as many members as the Senate. Its members representelectorates, which are geographical units with approximately equal numbers ofelectors. Most Bills originate in this house. By convention, the prime ministermust be a member of this house.

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Minister

Front 26

Parliament

Front 27

Prorogue

Back 27

bring a parliamentary session to an end, without dissolving parliamentor calling an election. It terminates all business currently before both housesuntil the next scheduled session

Front 28

Referendum

Back 28

the process through which changes can be made to theCommonwealth Constitution. Electors vote for or against a particular change.For the change to take effect, it must be supported by a majority of voters anda majority of states.

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Royal Assent

Back 29

the formal signing of a Bill by the monarch’srepresentative to indicate approval of the Bill, and is the final stepnecessary before a Bill becomes law

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Senate

Back 30

the upper house of the federal parliament, consisting of76 senators — twelve from each of the six states, two from the NorthernTerritory and two from the Australian Capital Territory. The Senate’s intendedfunctions are to represent the interests of the states and to review lawspassed in the House of Representatives. The Senate has powers almost identical to those of theHouse of Representatives except for restrictions in dealing with taxation andappropriation Bills.

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Shadow Minister

Back 31

a member of the Opposition’s leadership group who hasresponsibility for the policy area of a particular minister. He or she would belikely to become minister if the Opposition won government.

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Governor

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