COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA CONSTITUTION ACT

CLAUSE 5 – Operation of the Constitution and laws [see Note 3]

This Act, and all laws made by the Parliament of the Commonwealth under the Constitution, shall be binding on the courts, judges, and people of every State and of every part of the Commonwealth, notwithstanding anything in the laws of any State; and the laws of the Commonwealth shall be in force on all British ships, the Queen’s ships of war excepted, whose first port of clearance and whose port of destination are in the Commonwealth.

SECT 61 – Executive power

The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the Queen and is exercisable by the Governor General as the Queen’s representative, and extends to the execution and maintenance of this Constitution, and of the laws of the Commonwealth.

SECT 71 – Judicial power and Courts

The judicial power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a Federal Supreme Court, to be called the High Court of Australia, and in such other federal courts as the Parliament creates, and in such other courts as it invests with federal jurisdiction. The High Court shall consist of a Chief Justice, and so many other Justices, not less than two, as the Parliament prescribes.

SECT 79 – Number of judges

The federal jurisdiction of any court may be exercised by such number of judges as the Parliament prescribes.

SECT 80 – Trial by jury

The trial on indictment of any offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury, and every such trial shall be held in the State where the offence was committed, and if the offence was not committed within any State the trial shall be held at such place or places as the Parliament prescribes.

SECT 92 – Trade within the Commonwealth to be free

On the imposition of uniform duties of customs, trade, commerce, and intercourse among the States, whether by means of internal carriage or ocean navigation, shall be absolutely free.

But notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, goods imported before the imposition of uniform duties of customs into any State, or into any Colony which, whilst the goods remain therein, becomes a State, shall, on thence passing into another State within two years after the imposition of such duties, be liable to any duty chargeable on the importation of such goods into the Commonwealth, less any duty paid in respect of the goods on their importation.

SECT 109 – Inconsistency of laws

When a law of a State is inconsistent with a law of the Commonwealth, the latter shall prevail, and the former shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be invalid.

SECT 114 – States may not raise forces. Taxation of property of Commonwealth or State

A State shall not, without the consent of the Parliament of the Commonwealth, raise or maintain any naval or military force, or impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to the Commonwealth, nor shall the Commonwealth impose any tax on property of any kind belonging to a State.

SECT 128 – Mode of altering the Constitution [see Note 1]

This Constitution shall not be altered except in the following manner:

The proposed law for the alteration thereof must be passed by an absolute majority of each House of the Parliament, and not less than two nor more than six months after its passage through both Houses the proposed law shall be submitted in each State and Territory to the electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the House of Representatives.

But if either House passes any such proposed law by an absolute majority, and the other House rejects or fails to pass it, or passes it with any amendment to which the first mentioned House will not agree, and if after an interval of three months the first mentioned House in the same or the next session again passes the proposed law by an absolute majority with or without any amendment which has been made or agreed to by the other House, and such other House rejects or fails to pass it or passes it with any amendment to which the first mentioned House will not agree, the Governor General may submit the proposed law as last proposed by the first mentioned House, and either with or without any amendments subsequently agreed to by both Houses, to the electors in each State and Territory qualified to vote for the election of the House of Representatives.

When a proposed law is submitted to the electors the vote shall be taken in such manner as the Parliament prescribes. But until the qualification of electors of members of the House of Representatives becomes uniform throughout the Commonwealth, only one half the electors voting for and against the proposed law shall be counted in any State in which adult suffrage prevails.

And if in a majority of the States a majority of the electors voting approve the proposed law, and if a majority of all the electors voting also approve the proposed law, it shall be presented to the Governor General for the Queen’s assent.

No alteration diminishing the proportionate representation of any State in either House of the Parliament, or the minimum number of representatives of a State in the House of Representatives, or increasing, diminishing, or otherwise altering the limits of the State, or in any manner affecting the provisions of the Constitution in relation thereto, shall become law unless the majority of the electors voting in that State approve the proposed law.

In this section, Territory means any territory referred to in section one hundred and twenty-two of this Constitution in respect of which there is in force a law allowing its representation in the House of Representatives.

Legislation Link

http://www.lawalert.info/au/legislation/cth-consolidated-acts-commonwealth-of-australia-constitution-act

Referendum Dates and Results

http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/referendums/Referendum_Dates_and_Results.htm

Download this page in PDF format

commonwealth-of-australia-constitution-act

SECT 15 – Exercise of jurisdiction
The jurisdiction of the High Court may, subject to the provisions of this Act, be exercised by any one or more Justices sitting in open Court.

SECT 39B – Original jurisdiction of Federal Court of Australia

SECT 80 – Common law to govern
So far as the laws of the Commonwealth are not applicable or so far as their provisions are insufficient to carry them into effect, or to provide adequate remedies or punishment, the common law in Australia as modified by the Constitution and by the statute law in force in the State or Territory in which the Court in which the jurisdiction is exercised is held shall, so far as it is applicable and not inconsistent with the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth, govern all Courts exercising federal jurisdiction in the exercise of their jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters.

Legislation Link to Judiciary Act 1903

IMPERIAL ACTS APPLICATION ACT 1980 (VIC)

PART II-TRANSCRIBED ENACTMENTS

8.      Transcribed enactments
Division 1-Elections
Elections [1275] 3 Edward I (State of Westminster the First) C.V.
And because elections ought to be free, the King commandeth upon great forfeiture, that no man by force of arms, nor by malice, or menacing, shall disturb any to make free election.

Division 2-Habeas corpus
Habeas corpus [1640] 16 Charles I c. X
An Act for the regulating of the privy council, and for taking away the court commonly called the star-chamber.

Division 3-Justice and liberty
[1297] 25 Edward I (Magna Carta) c. XXIX
No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his freehold, or iberties or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either justice or right.

[1354] 28 Edward III c. III
Item, that no man of what estate or condition that he be, shall be put out of land or tenement, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, nor put to death, without being brought in answer by due process of the law.

[1368] 42 Edward III c. III
. . . It is assented and accorded, for the good governance of the commons, that no man be put to answer without presentment before justices, or matter of record, or by due process and writ original, according to the old law of the land; And it any thing from henceforth be done to the contrary, it shall be void in the law, and holden for error.

[1627] 3 Charles I (Petition of Right) c. I
The petition is exhibited to his Majesty by the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, concerning divers rights and liberties of the subjects, with the King’s majesty’s royal answer thereunto in full parliament.

[1688] I William and Mary Sess. II (Bill of Rights) c. II
An act for declaring the rights and liberties of the subject, and settling the succession of the crown.

Division 4-Monopolies
Division 5-Royal marriages

Legislation Link to Imperial Acts Application Act 1980 (Vic)

76. Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom to be judicially noticed

All courts and persons acting judicially within Victoria shall take judicial and official notice of all Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland or of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland whether passed before or after the commencement of this Act and of the date of the coming into operation of any such Act.

78. Public seals of States

All courts and persons acting judicially within Victoria shall take judicial and official notice of the impression of the public seal of any Australasian State without evidence of such seal having been impressed or any other evidence relating thereto.

Legislation Link to Evidence Act 1995 (CTH)