Law in Context

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Universities are created by law as corporations, separate from government and from the people who work and study in them.  In the past they were run democratically by academics or faculty members, and sometimes by students as well.

Now they are run by highly paid management teams, and governed by small boards.  From the outside, legally they look similar to large for-profit companies.  "Corporate governance" ideas apply to both.

But is this appropriate?  Universities are vastly different from large companies.  Their management and governance is not particularly accountable to anyone in practice.  So more and more money goes into more and more management.  Failures keep on occurring and little happens.

Governments are waking up to this but their response is more regulation.  We argue for a return to a modernised academic democracy.  Drawing on our recent paper for the University of Melbourne, Imagining a Revolution in University Governance, we talk about a model constitution for our own Australian Exemplar University.  See https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/5477778/Imagining-a-Revolution-in-University-Governance.pdf

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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What exactly is a " State"?  It's not the same as a country, or a nation, or a government.  States do need a government to be recognised as a state, as well as a permanent population and territory, but it gets complicated.  There are parts of the world, such as Northern Cyprus and Taiwan, that have territory and a government, but are not states.

It's an important issue, and indeed a vital one at the moment in the Middle East.  Is Palestine a state?  Should it be recognised as one?

This episode describes the state as a political and legal construct.  It isn't a cultural or ethnic one.  Most of the world's land mass is within the state system.  And who knows?  Could the Moon be next?

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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The adversarial system of justice came from the English common law and spread. In this one minute snapshot, we contrast it with the inquisitorial system found in non-Anglo democracies.

For a full version of the episode and further reading, visit https://lawincontext.com.au/adversarial-system/

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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Your gowned crusaders explore the concept of agency, its legal implications, and its relevance in everyday life. We discuss how agency allows individuals and companies to engage in contracts without direct involvement, the different types of authority agents can have, and the risks associated with agency relationships. We also touch on the evolving nature of agency in the context of AI and automated systems.  If AI acts on our behalf, is it (or the AI provider) liable for errors or exceeding authority?

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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Theories abound about why people obey the law, but in this one minute snapshot we highlight how a fair society with clear rules and effective enforcement makes it more likely that people will do the right thing.  For the full episode, go to https://lawincontext.com.au/why-do-people-obey-the-law/

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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Contracts are at the heart of our economic system.  They are also dear to the hearts of many lawyers, who see contract law as embodying the idea that individuals should voluntarily bind themselves in a free society when they think it is in their interests to do so.

In this episode we look at how contracts are formed and when a party might be excused from their obligations.  

We also ask whether the theory works in practice.  How much choice do people really have, when for example they click that they agree to some Terms and Conditions?  

And if a contract is broken, inequality in access to justice means in practice that a powerful party has the advantage over a weaker party.

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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The Rule of Law is the starting point for understanding Law in democracies.  In this one minute snapshot we say what the Rule of Law is, and what it isn't.

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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Torts basically are civil wrongs.  The law of torts provides remedies for people who have suffered some kind of harm at the hands of another - the tortfeasor.  The behaviour might also be a crime or a breach of contract, depending on the circumstances.

Torts such as trespass and battery go back centuries, but this area of law really exploded in the 20th century with the classic House of Lords case of Donoghue v Stevenson.  That case established a general remedy for negligent acts or omissions where a duty of care is found to exist between the plaintiff and the tortfeasor.

A duty of care is owed to what the law regards as your "neighbour", which is a metaphor for someone you could reasonably foresee would suffer loss by your behaviour. Long before modern consumer protection and product safety legislation, the common law of negligence now provided a remedy against a manufacturer, for example, by a reasonably foreseeable end-user, even though the end-user had no contract with the manufacturer.

This episode looks at the torts of negligence and trespass.

Trigger warning: it contains what some might regard as Dad jokes. 

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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For centuries there have been restrictions on suing a judge who has heard your case if you think they got it badly wrong.  You could appeal against the decision or, in theory, petition the legislature to remove the judge.  But you couldn't normally sue the judge for damages.  There were some exceptions to this rule but these have been removed in Australia in a recent case that went all the way to the High Court.

This episode discusses The State of Queensland v Stradford (2025) and the arguments either way for giving judges an immunity from being sued and whether there could be a compromise position, perhaps involving insurance, so that the victims of gross judicial negligence and not left effectively without a remedy.

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context

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No criminal justice system is perfect.  Sometimes it "miscarries" and innocent people are convicted.  The consequences can be devastating for those involved, and sometimes for society, leading to unrest or political tensions.

In this episode we look at some selected miscarriages of justice from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.  We discuss a very controversial and live issue at the moment, the Lucy Letby convictions in the United Kingdom, involving the deaths of seven babies, which relied on expert evidence which is now being challenged by other experts.

We also look at a new phenomenon; "mass" miscarriages of justice, where governments or government agencies wrongly prosecute people and then go into denial, as happened in the UK's Post Office scandal, and in Australia with the Robodebt scandal.

Some common themes in these terrible events are discussed.  At the end of the day, there is no substitute for vigilance and remaining sceptical about everything that is given in evidence.

For more information about your dashing hosts and the Law in Context podcast series visit our website at About - Law in Context