BUSI 2301 Business Law - Free Samples to Students

Part A

• The plaintiff was a 13 old boy named Stephen Shorten who hit the golf ball into a 1 m high grass. When searching for the ball, he was attacked by a kangaroo despite the plaintiff making an attempt to run on seeing the kangaroo. The boy suffered injuries and held the Grafton District Golf Club as liable for the injuries caused since it was a result of their negligence.  The negligence case was dismissed by the trial judge who opined that the golf club’s conduct was not negligent considering the fact that chances of attacking by a kangaroo was very small and thus considered as unforeseen damage.

The plaintiff appealed against the verdict of the district court and the case landed in NSW Court of Appeal. The defendant highlighted the low risk associated with the Eastern Grey Kangaroo attack. The court highlighted that this was not the first incidence of the kind and there have been four incidents of such nature previously. Further, the golf club also was given the permission to cull the previously aggressive kangaroos in order to ensure the safety of the people using the golf club. Thus, it was ruled that despite the risk of attach being low, there did emerge a duty to care which had been breached by the Golf club. Owing to this breach of duty, the plaintiff had suffered damage in the form of physical injury which could have been avoided had the duty to care not been breached by the club. As a result, the court held the gold club negligent in their conduct and awarded damages to the plaintiff.

• Date of the case – March 23, 2000
• Name of the Court – “Court of Appeal of NSW”
• Cause of Action – Negligence on the part of the defendant resulting in injury to the plaintiff owing to which the plaintiff deserved damages
• Judges in the case – Priestley JA, Fitzgerald JA  and Heydon JA
• Judge in the district court – Mahoney DCJ
• Case relied on by Fitzgerald JA - Morgan v Sherton Pty Ltd(1999) 46 NSWLR 141, 145

Part B

1. Australian Acts Interpretation legislation are listed below.

• Acts Interpretation Act 1901
• Acts Interpretation Act 1915
• Acts Interpretation Act 1954
• Interpretation Act 1987
• Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984
• Acts Interpretation Act 1931
• Acts Interpretation Act 1915
• Acts Interpretation Act 1924
• Legislation Act 2001

1. According to Sec15AA, amongst the various interpretations possible of a law, the one that serves the underlying purpose or objective is to be preferred.
2. Saturday, Sunday or any public holidays are considered as holidays under Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
3. As per Sec37A, a person would attain the age of 18 at the time of commencement of the 18^thbirthday of the individual.

PART C

• Case Law refers to the decisions that have been made by the judges with regards to disputes in the past. These act as legal precedents to the lower judges with regards to application of a particular law. The case laws involving higher courts are particular significant since these are binding on the lower courts. However, these are not comprehensive in nature as these pertain to particular facts.  Legislation essentially refers to the laws or acts that are enacted by the legislation route and are thus enacted by the statues and thus are also known as statute law.

• Case laws are made based on the legal judgements given by the judges. Typically, these are cases involving higher courts since these have jurisdiction over the lower courts in the hierarchical structure and thereby these decisions tend to become binding on the lower courts while are considered by higher or equal courts when dealing with similar cases in the future. Legislation is made when a bill is passed and becomes a law. Thus, these are laws which derive their authority from the legislation. There are procedures outlined through convention, rules or constitutions with regards to legislation which need to be adhered to.
• Higher authority is possessed by legislation since it is more comprehensive and definite in nature. Also, the case law cannot go against the prevailing laws which have been enacted by the government. Besides, legislation typically relies on wisdom of higher number of people who are essentially representatives of people and thus theoretically highlight the will of the people. The case laws on the other hand are derived on the basis of the few judges and at times these may be old and hence have limited utility.

PART D

In accordance with the Kent Institute Australia, academic misconduct would involve any action that would lead to an unfair academic advantage for one oneself or creating an academic disadvantage for the other members. This would typically involve usage of unfair means which amount to cheating in order to obtain superior grades. One such practice is to outsource the academic tasks to be done by others with or without any payment or favour. Other such practices may include copying work from other students or cheating during exams by not adhering to the instructions of the exam.

One of the key practices which amount to academic misconduct is the practice of plagiarism. This typically involves situations when a given student tends to present someone else’s work and presents as own self. Hence, the students should not copy academic tasks from other students and also not from outside sources. Further, sources used for finishing the academic tasks need to be acknowledged in the manner specified by the institute. Additionally, causing damage to intellectual property or causing disturbance in the class thereby creating nuisance value would also be termed as academic misconduct.

References

Andy Gibson, Douglas Fraser, Business Law (Pearson Publications., 8^th e, 2014)

Australian Government, Acts Interpretation Acts 1901 (July 1, 2016) < https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00691>

Doyles, Shorten v Grafton District Golf Club Ltd [2000] NSWCA 58 (September29, 2015) < https://doylesconstructionlawyers.com/casewatch-list/shorten-v-grafton-district-golf-club/>

Jade, Shorten v Grafton District Golf Club Ltd [2000] NSWCA 58 < https://www.jade.io/article/124238>

Robert Bryan Vermeesch, Kevin Edmund Lindgren, Business Law of Australia (Butterworths, 12^th ed. 2011)

Shayne Davenport, Business and Law in Australia (Thomson Reuters, 4^th ed, 2012)