Law Reforms by Port Arthur Massacre and Lionel Keith Murphy - Case Study Example

Running Header: Law Reforms in Australia Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Essay Plan Introduction Definition of law Sources of law in Australia Definition of law reforms Event and individual who led to law reforms in Australia Lionel Keith Murphy Lionel Keith Murphy personal and professional life Legislative achievements like Family Law Act of 1975 Other law reforms by Lionel Keith Murhpy Port Arthur Massacre Date of occurrence Martin Bryant Shooting incidences and casualties Law reforms or gun laws Gun ownership in Australia Conclusion Summary of law reforms by Port Arthur Massacre and Lionel Keith Murphy Law Reforms in Australia Introduction Law is rules of conduct that are approved and enforced over a certain country or region by the government. Laws are expected to be obeyed by every person on the region that it has been enforced. Law can also be defined as prescribed rule of conduct by a state that commands what is right while prohibiting what is not right1. In Australia, laws consist of Australian common law, federal laws, which are normally enacted by Australian Parliament, and Australian territories and states parliaments enacted laws. Sources of law in Australia include Constitutional law, statute law, common law, equity law, customary law and international law. Law reform is the improvement of law through altering it, correcting it or removing some aspects while replacing with others. Law reforms occurs after some situations happen which call for reforms in the law of any region or country2. Australian law reforms have been caused by events and individuals eventually resulting to law changes. One such individual was Lionel Keith Murphy who was an Australian Jurist and politician. One event that has led to law reform in Australia was when 35 people died after being shot in Port Arthur massacre. Lionel Keith Murphy and Law Reforms Lionel Keith Murphy was born in 1922 in Australia. He studied law at University of Sydney. He was an Australian jurist and politician. He served as an Attorney-General in Gough Whitlam’s Australian Government. In 1975, he also served as Justice of Australian High Court until his death. Lionel Murphy started main law reforms in Australia. Lionel Murphy served as a member of Federal Conference and Federal Executive of Labor Party of Australia from 1967 to 1975. Lionel Murphy started several federal law reforms when he was Attorney-General. As a minister, he was in charge for the introduction as well as passage of the Trade Practices Act, Family Law Act and several other reforming statutes. The most vital legislative achievement by Murphy was the Family Law act of 1975. This law overhauled completely divorce law and family matters laws in Australia. Lionel Murphy established “no fault” principle as opposed to many organizations and individuals as well as Roman Catholic Church. This event led to the set up of Family Court of Australia. Family Law Act 1975 is one of 4 separate acts which provide Australian family law frame work3. It is one of the main legislation of Australia dealing with divorce, separation of properties after a divorce, arrangements on parenting between parents who have separated as well as children and divorced spouse’s financial maintenance. Family Law Act led to the introduction of a different approach of divorce called “no fault” divorce. This meant that couples were no more required to give reasons for divorce. They were only required to confirm that their marriage had suffered a breakdown which was irreconcilable. The Australia’s divorce law was revolutionized by 1975 original act started by Murphy4. It replaced the previous grounds that were faulty with the single ground of breakdown that was irretrievable and which was established through separation as well as living separately for one-year period. Family Law Act of 1975 led to the establishment of Australian family court. It started its operation in January 1976. It deals with all cases related to marriage in all territories and sates of Australia5. Lionel Murphy passed a vital legislation considerably abolishing Privy Council appeals and removing censorship. At the same time, he passed legislation that provided freedom of accessing government’s information while reforming both corporation’s laws and laws on trade practices. He led to passing of legislation that abolished the death penalty. The legislation also led to passing of laws that protects the environment. Lionel Murphy led to such substantial changes and reforms of Australian laws or legislation system. Port Arthur Massacre and gun laws reforms Law reforms in Australia have also been initiated by events that occur or happen in various parts of Australia with time. One such event that led to law reforms was Port Arthur massacre. It was on a Sunday, 28 April 1996 at a place called Port Arthur a little tourist site that is popular in Tasmania, Australia. A 28-year-old man known as Martin Bryant from New Town opened fire. This led to death of 35 people with more than 21 people becoming seriously wounded. The shooting incidents took place in various locations within the same day when first shooting incident occurred at Broad Arrow Café where Martin shot several people killing 12 of them while 10 others got wounded. Martin proceeded to the Gift shop where he shot and killed 20 people. Other shooting incidents were at car park area, toll booth and service station6. Martin Bryant was captured the day after the incident at a guest house where he started a fire and still shot dead another person called Mr. Pears. Bryant was found guilty of those charges and he was sentenced for life imprisonment with 35 sentences including 35 murders and with attempted murder as well as injuring and shooting numerous people. In addition, there was cumulative penalty of 1,035 years in Hobart’s Risdon Prison. The event led to widespread horror and shock among Australians. This incident led to long-lasting and significant political effects. State and federal governments with even those who were opposing firearm control took a very quick decision of restricting firearm availability. This incident and subsequent public opinions led to change of laws even among those were opposing. They were overwhelmed by the mounting public opinion over the shooting incident7. Under the co-ordination of Federal government, all Australian territories, and states banned and restricted the use and legal ownership of the gun. This included pump-action shotguns, self-loading guns, and self-loading riffles as well as substantial tightening of other related gun laws. This was also supported by victims’ family members who spoke on favor of the changes. Legislation was passed after some weeks to remove and deny population the ownership of small guns including semi-automatic weapons. This was preceded by gun buy-back. Owning a gun became illegal in Australia. Although it was a move against self defense and freedom of Australian, law had to be amended after such a shocking incident. It forced the change of laws in Australian constitution. The reforms in gun laws were meant to make Australia safer place for people to live as well as avoiding such incidences from occurring again in the future8. Australia’s revised the gun laws which required that all holders of firearms to be registered individually as well as being licensed to their owners. The revised gun laws also required that gun transfer be done through a licensed arm dealer but be approved by police after becoming satisfied of ownership reasons. All private firearm dealers were prohibited by the new law reforms on guns. These law reforms led to a situation where guns were possessed by few individuals who are licensed and registered. Owning a gun on self-defense grounds is prohibited. According to Australian government, owning a gun is a conditional privilege but not a right. There must be a genuine reason of owning a gun or any firearm in Australia but not on self defense reasons according to the government. All this happened after the law reforms that occurred following Port Arthur Massacre in 19969. Those law reforms are still working even today since they were enacted. Gun control law affects adversely the health and security as well as well-being of people both internationally and nationally. Unless such an event took place in Australia, such law reforms on guns would not have taken place. There would not have those reforms on the use and ownership of guns. Therefore, this is one big event that has significantly led to notable law reforms in Australian history. Conclusion Several law reforms in Australia have been contributed by individuals like Lionel Murphy and others. Events such as Port Arthur massacre of 1996 can also be attributed to the law reforms as explained in Port Arthur Massacre event. Although laws can be amended without such events or individuals influencing a lot, their contributions can be noted remarkably in the Australian history of law reforms10. Change of family and divorce laws have been in place up to now although some amendments occur with time. They have been of great significant to the Australian society in particular and as a country in general. The individual’s contributions by people like Murphy need to be appreciated in law and constitution field. Lionel Murphy has helped in passing of vital legislation including abolishment of Privy Council appeals and removing censorship. He helped in passing of legislation that provided freedom of accessing government’s information. Other notable contributions of law reforms by Lionel Murphy included reforming both corporation’s laws and laws on trade practices, and passing legislation that abolished the death penalty in Australian laws. Events like port Arthur Massacre has as well contributed greatly to reforms in gun ownership laws11. These laws have helped significantly in reduction of such related incidences from occurring since the enactment and reforms of gun laws. Such incidents are remembered for their contribution towards law reforms although it left many people dead and physically challenged. Such events have played a great responsibility in law reforms. References Altmann Carol, After Port Arthur: personal stories of courage and resilience ten years on from the tragedy that shocked the nation. Victoria: Allen & Unwin, 2006. Bastiat Frederic, The Law. New York, Cosimo, Inc., 2006. Brian Openskin, & David Weisbrot, The promise of law reform. Hague: Federation Press, 2005. Caruthers Fiona. 2003. Australia ‘complacent’ over gun law reform. University of Sydney. http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=513 (accessed April 22, 2010). Frederic Miller, Agness Vandome & John McBrewster. Port Arthur Massacre (Australia): Martin Bryant, Gun Politics, Gun Politics in Australia, Special Operations Group of the Tasmania Police, List of Events Named Massacres, List of Disasters in Australia by Death Toll. Sydney: Alpha-script Publishing, 2009. Jeny Hocking. Lionel Murphy: A Political Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Lionel Murphy. 1986. LIONEL KEITH MURPHY. Akron Press. http://lionelmurphy.anu.edu.au/lionel_murphy.htm (accessed April 22, 2010). Lionel Murphy. Australian Attorney-General’s Dept, Divorce law reform: an address by the Attorney-General of Australia, Senator Lionel Murphy Q.C. at the Sydney University Law School, August 7, 1973. Sydney: Attorney-General’s Dept., 1973. Michael Coper & George Williams. Justice Lionel Murphy: influential or merely prescient? Michigan: Federation Press, 1997. National Library of Australia, APAIS, Australian public affairs information service: a subject index to current literature. Sydney: National Library Australia, 1981. Richard Kocsis. Serial murder and the psychology of violent crimes, Sydney: Humana Press, 2007. Read More