Whether you’re doing Unit 1, 2, 3 or 4, here is a breakdown on everything you need to know in the VCE Legal Studies Study Design!
Here we will take a look at each unit, and briefly dissect the topics and skills you will need in Legal Studies.
Let’s get started!
What is the most important part of the Legal Studies study design?
Unit 1: Guilt and Liability
Unit 2: Sanctions, Remedies and Rights
Unit 3: Rights and Justice
Unit 4: The People and the Law
What is the most important part of the study design?
Well really, the whole study design is important, so reading the whole thing will be the most beneficial.
But if you’re looking through the study design and aren’t really sure what bits to pay attention to, no matter what unit you are doing, look at the key knowledge and key skill sections!
These will dot-point the concepts that you will need to know in assessments, and the skills you will need in VCE Legal Studies.
Check out our guide to acing your VCE Legal Studies exam here!
The Study Design: Unit 1 Legal Studies
The focus of Unit 1 is guilt and liability. In each unit of VCE Legal Studies, you will be assessed on areas of study. For Unit 1, there are three. Let’s work through them!
Area of Study 1
The first area of study is Legal Foundations.
In short, this area of study is meant to give you foundational knowledge about the legal system in Australia, and Australian laws.
In the Legal Studies study design, the ‘key knowledge’ section of each area of study will give you a brief outline of each topic you will learn about in that area of study. Reading this can help clarify any confusion about what kind of content you should be covering.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 1?
Well, as we said before, each topic that you will need to learn is covered in the ‘key knowledge’ section of the study design. This section is arguably one of the most important sections included for students, so go and read it!
In essence, the key knowledge for area of study one is an overview of the important concepts and terms that occur throughout the entirety of VCE Legal Studies. These will be things like the difference between civil and criminal law, and the principles of justice.
The Principles of Justice is probably one of the most important parts of this key knowledge section, as they underpin the Legal Studies course. These principles are fairness, equality and access, and you will have to be able to define and analyse these principles in relation to situations and scenarios throughout the Legal Studies course, so read up on them!
Area of Study 2
The second area of study is the presumption of innocence. This area of study seeks to develop your understanding of key ideas and types of crime in criminal law.
In this area of study, you will have to investigate in detail two criminal offences. You will need to consider real or hypothetical scenarios where someone accused of a crime has been charged with the offence, and use legal reasoning to support various legal topics.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 2?
Well, again, let’s look at the key knowledge section. So get out your study design!
The key knowledge all centres around criminal law, and goes into more detail than Area of Study 1. One of the best things you can do is thoroughly learn the key concepts of criminal law; elements of a crime, strict liability, age of criminal responsibility, burden of proof and standard of proof, and start applying these to some practice questions.
For example:
“Luke, 16 years old, and his friend Chris, 15 years old, got into an altercation with their friend Roy at a party. Luke attempted to punch roy, but accidentally hit Chris instead, knocking him out and breaking his nose. Luke has been charged with assault.”
Identify whether Luke is over the age of criminal responsibility, and whether this is an example of a strict liability crime. Explain your response.
By using and creating scenarios to answer questions, you are able to learn and incorporate other aspects of the key knowledge section into your study, so give it a try!
Area of Study 3
The third and final area of study for Unit 1 legal studies is Civil liability. In this area of study, you will look at civil law and investigate thoroughly two areas of civil law.
For each of these two areas, you will be able to consider real or hypothetical scenarios surrounding a civil claim, and use legal reasoning to support various legal topics. This is similar to what you did in Area of Study 2, but with civil law instead of criminal law!
So what can I take away from Area of Study 3?
Area of Study 3 is similar to Area of Study 2, except you are studying criminal law instead of civil law! So get out your key knowledge section for this area of study, and let’s have a look.
The thing that lots of students struggle with in this area of study is the difference between civil and criminal law. As you can see, some areas of civil law use similar wording to areas of criminal law.
This is evident in the burden of proof and standard of proof. Even though there is a burden and standard of proof in both civil and criminal law, both areas of law use different definitions.
So for civil law, you will need to learn the definitions of the burden of proof and standard of proof in relation to civil law. This carries through to other elements of the key knowledge.
Make sure you have a sound understanding of the terms used in civil law, and understand the differences between civil and criminal law!
The Study Design: Unit 2 Legal Studies
In unit 2, you will explore sanctions, remedies and rights. This will include the investigation of two criminal cases and two civil cases that occurred in the last four years, looking into the protection of rights in Australia and a different country, and possible ways to reform the protection of rights.
Notice a pattern? A lot of Legal Studies involves looking at real or hypothetical cases — so you will need to practise applying the key concepts to scenarios.
Area of Study 1
The focus of Area of Study 1 is sanctions. A sanction is a penalty that is applied to a guilty person for committing a crime.
In this Area of Study, you will look at the sanctions used in criminal law. You will also investigate two criminal cases from the last four years.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 1?
Something that may help you from Area of Study 1 leading into further areas of study is the two recent criminal cases. It is important that you are able to synthesise and analyse information in relation to real world scenarios and cases, as this helps you to apply your learning.
Really make sure that you are able to identify and explain different kinds of sanctions, and develop an understanding of why sanctions exist. Make sure you are consistently creating links back to the principles of justice, and ask yourself how different sanctions are or are not achieving them!
Area of Study 2
The focus of Area of Study 2 is remedies. You will explore the various remedies in civil law, such as methods and institutions that are available to resolve civil disputes, and the different types of remedies, as well as their purposes. You will also investigate two civil cases from the last four years.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 2?
As with Area of Study 1, one of the key takeaways from Area of Study 2 is the two recent cases. For Area of Study 2, you will be looking at civil law cases.
You will need to be able to analyse and explain various remedies and dispute resolution bodies in relation to these cases, and link these back to the achievement, or lack thereof, the principles of justice.
So to do this successfully, you will need to have a sound understanding of the terms and concepts surrounding remedies. As usual, you can see these terms in the key knowledge section of the study design!
Area of Study 3
The focus of area of study 3 is rights. Pretty straightforward, right?
In this area of study, you will look at the ways that rights are protected in Australia specifically, such as the Australian Constitution and the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. Then, you will compare this with the way that another country protects rights.
After you’ve compared these two ways of protecting rights, you will look at the ways rights protection in Australia could be reformed.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 3?
One of the bigger aspects of Area of Study 3 is the ability to compare the ways rights are protected in Australia and a different country. One example that is often used is the difference between Australia’s protection of rights, and the USA’s.
For example, Australia protects some rights with the Australian Constitution, and Victoria protects rights through the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. Contrastingly, the United States protects many rights through their Bill of Rights, a part of their constitution that does not occur in ours.
Further, it is important that you thoroughly research and understand one Australian case that impacted the protection of rights in Australia. A great case that you may look at for this is the Mabo case.
The Study Design: Unit 3 Legal Studies
The focus of Unit 3 is rights and justice. This unit examines both the Victorian criminal justice system and Victorian civil justice system.
A big part of this unit is your ability to apply legal reasoning and information to cases, whether they are real or hypothetical, so make sure you’re consistently practising that skill!
Area of Study 1
Area of study 1 is an in-depth exploration of the Victorian criminal justice system and how it works. Through this, you will learn about topics such as the rights of victims and accused persons, the personnel in the criminal justice system, how it determines a criminal case, and more.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 1?
You may be looking at the key knowledge section for Area of Study 1 and thinking, that’s a lot of different terms and concepts, but don’t worry! A lot of these terms are a little bit self-explanatory, and a lot of them connect to one another, so the content looks harder than it is!
Once you’ve learned these terms, one of the most important things is being able to actually apply them in various contexts. Oftentimes, this comes back to relating them to the principles of justice, or the specific details given to you of a case or scenario.
Area of Study 2
The focus of Area of study 2 is the Victorian civil justice system. In this Area of Study, you will explore many concepts such as the factors relevant to commencing a civil claim, and you will examine the methods and institutions that are used to resolve civil disputes.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 2?
Is this getting familiar yet? Area of Study 2 is just like Area of Study 1, but with civil law! This time you’re applying your in-depth understanding of the civil justice system, and you will need to be able to critically analyse how the civil justice system does or does not achieve the principles of justice.
One of the bigger areas of this area of study that people often stress over are the recent and recommended reforms to the civil justice system. You will need to be able to use a couple of case studies to talk about ways that the achievement of the principles of justice can be enhanced in the civil justice system, so really focus on developing an understanding of how real cases or scenarios relate to key terms and ideas in the Legal Studies course.
The Study Design: Unit 4 Legal Studies
The focus of Unit 4 is the people and the law. This means you will study the relationship between the Australian people, the Australian Constitution, and law-making bodies.
Area of Study 1
Area of study 1 explores the people and the Australian Constitution. Through this area of study you will explore how this constitution acts as a check on parliament in law-making, and the relationship it has with the Australian people.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 1?
Concepts, Cases, Context! These are the things I think are most important for a successful completion of this Area of Study!
Learn the concepts that you need to know, such as the roles of the Houses of Parliament etc., so that you can understand your cases and scenarios, e.g. the Roach case in relation to sections 7 and 24 of the Australian Constitution, and then apply these concepts and cases in context to a question on a SAC or exam!
Complete our practice SAC for VCE Legal Studies Unit 4 AOS 1 here!
Area of Study 2
The final ever area of study for VCE Legal Studies! This one covers the people, the Parliament and the courts.
This area of study takes an in-depth look at the role of Parliament in making laws, how the courts relate to that, how these institutions make laws, and how they respond to law reform.
So what can I take away from Area of Study 2?
Area of Study 2 is big! After all, it’s your last hurrah! Just like Area of Study 1, learn your concepts, the cases you will use in responses requiring examples, and make sure you are able to put these cases and concepts into context!
Really look at the key knowledge section of the study design, and make sure you are able to differentiate between all the concepts.
For example, ensure that you understand the differences between the factors that affect the ability of Parliament to make law, and the factors that affect the ability for the courts to make law.
That wraps up everything you need to know from the Legal Studies Study Design! But let’s be honest, we can’t cover everything, so go and read the study design yourself for any bits we missed. Maybe check out the key skills sections! You can read it here!
One last thing you might be wondering: How do your marks contribute to your study score?
Ah study scores. The end result of your hard work in Units 3 and 4. You might be wondering how all of this information and knowledge will contribute to your score.
Well, it’s covered in the study design, and according to the study design, your school assessed coursework in Unit 3 (SACs) will contribute to 25 percent of your study score. 50 marks are allocated for outcome 1, your assessment/s for Area of Study 1, and 50 marks are allocated for outcome two, which is your assessment/s for Area of Study 2.
This comes to 100 total marks, which then becomes 25 percent of your overall study score.
For Unit 4, 40 marks are allocated to your outcome 1 SACs, and 60 marks are allocated to your outcome 2 SACs, with 100 marks overall. This then becomes another 25 percent, making Units 3 and 4 combined worth 50 percent of your study score.
This leaves the other 50 percent of the score to your end of year exam.
Check out our 25 practice exam questions for VCE Legal Studies here!
So happy learning! Go have a read through of the study design, and enjoy VCE Legal Studies!
Looking for past papers? Check out our compiled list of VCE Legal Studies past papers here!
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Maija Flood completed the VCE in 2021, so she knows how much work it can be. She is passionate about creating resources for students, and wants to help them feel confident about their studies! Maija is currently studying a Bachelor of Music at the University of Melbourne, and intends to major in clarinet performance.
