Scenario: You are an elder of a tribe living in the jungles of South America that has never seen any civilisation except its own. You and the other elders of your tribe meet regularly to resolve...

Scenario:

You are an elder of a tribe living in the jungles of South America that has never seen any civilisation except its own. You and the other elders of your tribe meet regularly to resolve disputes between other members, about things like marriage and divorce, trading of possessions and acts of violence. Recently, some of the younger members of the tribe have become dissatisfied and have made protests about your decisions, saying that the elders just use their position to do whatever they want. They say that:-
1. Some decisions have been inconsistent with previous decisions;
2. Decisions are biased towards your own family members;
3. Decisions are based on old-fashioned ideas that should be changed;
4. Tribe members often ignore decisions and the victim can do nothing about it;
5. There is no way of challenging a decision, even if it is clearly wrong;
6. Tribe members can simply tell lies to the elders to get a favourable decision;
7. No one knows why decisions are made, so the people involved keep arguing about the dispute even after a decision has been made.
There is a risk that the tribe may break up, perhaps violently, so you and the other elders meet with the protesters. Although you do not accept their complaints, you agree that the things listed above should not happen. You agree to work out a way of preventing these problems from happening in the future.
Task 1
Your meet with the other elders in your group to decide on a proposal to put to the protesters. You must present this proposal to the class.
Task 2
After learning about Professor Hart’s 3-part legal system, you need to present to the class how your proposals fit within that system. What are:-
i. Your rules of recognition;
ii. Your rules of change;
iii. Your rules of adjudication.
Task 3
After learning about the Australian legal system, the Constitution and the doctrine of precedent, you explain how the Australian legal system solves the problems in the scenario.