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Articles on Australian law

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AP/Victoria Jones

You can say you wish King Charles would die, but you can’t urinate on your back tyre: 8 common myths about Australian law

We’ve all been at a work or family gathering when someone has offered a seemingly authoritative statement about the way the law operates. Without some knowledge of the field of law, listeners may simply…
In 1948, as Cecil George Harris lay dying after a tractor accident, he scratched a final message into the vehicle’s fender. illustration supplied by: Impact Studios/Dinalie Dabarera.

An unsent SMS, a message on a tractor, a poem: the courts say a valid will can take many forms

Courts have had to consider whether an eggshell, a tractor fender, a petticoat hem, graffiti on a wall, and a poem might be valid wills. They’ve shown surprising flexibility in judgment.
Malka Leifer’s extradition process has been in train since Australia lodged its request with Israel in 2013. AAP/supplied

Explainer: what is extradition between countries and how does it work?

Extradition laws are based on the idea that offenders, or alleged offenders, should not be able to evade justice by fleeing to another country. But the case of Malka Leifer shows just how difficult that can be.
To avoid miscarriages of justice, we need a jury direction process that leads to maximum juror understanding. Shutterstock

We need better jury directions to ensure justice is done

Because judges have a secondary audience when issuing jury directions - appeal court judges - the language used has become too wordy and confusing. It needs to change.
Among other things, Greer’s dismissal of “harm” also illustrates how misconceptions about rape inhibit prosecution. Flickr/walnut whippet

Greer is right to say rape law has failings, but wrong to suggest its decriminalisation

The author and academic makes some valid points about rape, but to decriminalise it, as she suggests, fails to recognise bodily autonomy as a key marker of humanity to which women are entitled.

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