• A brief summary of one of the cases you saw including – name of the parties, solicitors or barristers appearing, nature of the dispute, summary of the arguments, the decision of the magistrate or...

•    A brief summary of one of the cases you saw including – name of the parties, solicitors or barristers appearing, nature of the dispute, summary of the arguments, the decision of the magistrate or judge (if any)
•    Comments on the similarities or differences between the Magistrates Court and the District/Supreme Court.
•    Include a summary of your personal observations and whether you think you gained something from your visit to the courts.


Researching the assignment


Further information can be obtained from the internet. It is suggested that you search words such as civil proceedings in Australian courts and criminal proceedings in Australian courts or other combinations of these key words. The results from these searches will give you more than adequate information to complete this assignment.

Additional information may be obtained from your local library or you may be able to visit a local court, if there is one close to where you reside. You do not need to pursue either of these avenues to do this assignment. The basic information and material from the internet as suggested in the paragraph above will more than suffice. If you do decide to visit a local court then the tips on court etiquette can be found in the court essay assignment document under the Assessment tab. Please read these carefully before attending your local court.


Writing the Assignment



Your assignment should be no more than 700 WORDS.



There is a marking rubric for this assignment.  It can be found at the end of this document.  Please make sure that you read it and are conversant as to how your work will be marked.  Please note in this respect that 30% of the mark is for written expression, 50% mark for content and 20% mark for organisation and structure of your work.


It is, therefore, important that you pay particular attention to punctuation, spelling, grammar and expression, as these will be a focus for the marking.  Assignments should be double line spaced in essay form (not in point form).



Subheadings are encouraged and these do not form part of the word count.



Assignments should generally be written in the third person and not the first person, although if you are doing the Court assignment.  However if you are providing a personal observation then the first person can be used.


It is also important that you pay particular attention to the content contained in your assignment making sure that it is correct and obtained from reliable and scholarly resources.


The structure and organisation of your essay is also of importance so please ensure that you concentrate on this aspect of your assignment as well.