11–12Legal Studies 11–12 Syllabus (2025)

Relationship between law, justice and society

Development of law as a reflection of society’s values

Effectiveness of legal and non-legal measures in achieving justice for individuals, groups and society

Use and integrate a range of evidence, including legislation, cases, media, international instruments, documents, expert opinions and statistics

Analyse evidence to identify and account for the different perspectives of individuals and groups in society

Distinguish between fact and opinion

Examine the nature of the relationship between law, justice and society

Analyse the development of law as a reflection of society’s values

Form judgements about the effectiveness of legal and non-legal measures in achieving justice for individuals and society

Acknowledge sources appropriately

Examine legal issues that illustrate how the law operates in practice

Construct and develop reasoned arguments supported by relevant evidence

Evaluate the responsiveness of the legal system to changing values, events, the media, outdated laws and developments in technology

Evaluate the effectiveness of the law using criteria. These include:

• accessibility of the law
• achievement of justice
• application of the rule of law
• capacity to meet society’s needs
• capacity to uphold community standards
• capacity to uphold the interests of justice
• enforceability of legal measures
• need for law reform
• protection of individual rights
• resource efficiency
• responsiveness of the law