Year 12 Legal Studies

On Friday 15th September, the Year 12 Legal Studies class went to the Supreme Court of Victoria as well as the Magistrates’ Court. We started the day by being fortunate to have the opportunity to hear Justice Tinney give us insight into his career, aspirations and experiences of being a Supreme Court Judge. 

Afterwards we were able to sit in the court room and see the court case continue that Justice Tinney was presiding over.  It was a very interesting attempted murder case - Crown V Zheng. 

Through listening to the trial we heard the prosecution present their arguments.  This included the testimony of the medical expert who was giving evidence in relation to the victim’s injuries inflicted by the accused. 

We were also given access to the Supreme Court’s law library where we could view old law books as well as portraits of past Chief Justices and admire the architecture. 

Then we ventured to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court where we were able to visit a range of court rooms.  We were able to see the court hearings in action on summary offence matters such as minor assault, drug trafficking and driving offences. The experience at the courts allowed us to see our learning being applied in real life situations and helped reinforce our knowledge about summary and indictable offences, purposes of sanctions and how legal personnel act in actual cases. We all enjoyed the experience and are very thankful that we could be part of such an opportunity.

Martine New 

Year 12