此前我们发布了有关《在澳经商》总体政策及常见领域法律的文章。目前其中一些领域的情况及规定有所变化，因此我们制作了《在澳经商》系列的新版，新版的相关文章将从现在开始陆续发布。
背景
法律制度
澳大利亚法律制度的基础是英国的法律制度。
法律的来源有两个。首先是由议会制订颁布的成文法。需要清楚的是，由联邦议会制定的法律适用于澳大利亚全国，而由州或领地议会制定的法律只适用于该州或领地。同样需要明确的是，各州和领地的法律不总是一致的，各州的同样活动（例如城市规划）所适用的法律可能有所不同。
法律的第二个来源是普通法，即通过多年中法院对各种案件的判决发展而来的法律。普通法的基础是先例，这意味高级别的法院的判决对下级法院具有约束效力。这是通常是为了确保法院判决的一致性。普通法对于整个澳洲有效，但州或领地的成文法的效力经常会优先于普通法。
澳大利亚法院体系借鉴了其议会制度。包括联邦法院和各州及领地法院。
高级联邦法院即高等法院和联邦法院。
高等法院是澳大利亚的最高法院，其判决对其他法院具有约束力。高等法院只接受上诉（只有一个例外），并有权决定什么样的上诉才受理。
联邦议会赋予了联邦法院对所有事务的管辖权。其中包括企业、竞争和税收纠纷。联邦法院也可以处理根据联邦法律含有索赔的普通法事务（其中，从广义上讲，是指不设计立法或由于立法而导致的纠纷）。
联邦法院还审理来自联邦管辖内的下级法院和法庭的上诉。
联邦法院审理的事项并无金额限制。
六个州和两个领地各拥有一个州最高法院，即在该州或领地中级别最高的法院。州最高法院通常可以审理除了含有只能由联邦法院审理的事项的纠纷之外的任何纠纷。州最高法院通常分为多个部门（或“专项”），分别处理特定类型的通常需要特定专业知识的纠纷（例如建筑和建设纠纷）。
每个州和领地通常在州最高法院下还设有两个级别的法院。分别为：州最高法院下级的区或郡法院，以及再低一级的治安法院或地方法院。第二级法院通常由法官主持，而再低一级的法院通常由地方行政长官或太平绅士主持。
此外，所有管辖区都建立了审理不服政府决策的上诉的特别法庭，管理特定的经济领域（例如劳资关系）或管理特定的法律（例如规划法或零售租赁法）。
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其他常见领域法律与规定，例如技术与知识产权保护、反垄断和消费者保护法、合同法、公开接管、电子商务、商业移民和雇主担保签证、房地产、环境法等
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【Doing Business in Australia 2015】II — Background: Legal System
Our readers may have already read our "Doing Business in Australia" series of articles posted before. Recently quite a few relevant facts and policies have been updated. Hence we have produced a new version. You will be able to receive the updated articles about "Doing Business in Australia" in the coming weeks.
Background
Legal System
The Australian legal system is based on the British legal system.
There are two sources of law. The first is statute law which is law created by legislation enacted by a parliament. It is important to appreciate that laws made by the federal parliament apply throughout Australia while laws made by a state or territory parliament apply only in that state or territory. It is also important to understand that the laws of the states and territories are not always harmonised and that different laws governing the same activity (such as town planning) will apply from state to state.
The second source of law is the common law, which is the law developed by the courts through the decision of judges over cases over the years. Common law is based on precedent which means that the decision of a senior court binds a lower court. This is intended to, and usually does, ensure consistency in court decision making. The common law applies to all of Australia but can be, and often is, overridden by federal and state statute law.
The Australian court system mirrors its parliamentary system. There are federal courts and state and territory courts.
The senior federal courts are the High Court and the Federal Court.
The High Court is the highest court in Australia and its decisions are binding on every other court. The High Court only considers appeals (with one exception) and decides what appeals it will hear.
The Federal Court has jurisdiction over all matters conferred on it by the Commonwealth parliament. These include corporate, competition and taxation disputes. The Federal Court can also deal with common law matters (which, broadly speaking, are disputes that do not arise from or involve legislation) when they are included in claims based on Commonwealth law.
The Federal Court also hears appeals from lower courts and tribunals in the federal jurisdiction.
There is no monetary limit on matters that the Federal Court may consider.
The six states and two territories each have a Supreme Court which is the senior court in the state or territory. A Supreme Court can generally consider any dispute, other than disputes which involve issues that may only be considered by the Federal Court. A Supreme Court is usually divided into divisions (or “lists”) which deal with particular types of disputes (for example building and construction disputes) which usually require a specific expertise.
In each state and territory there are usually two levels of courts below the Supreme Court. These are, at the next level down from the Supreme Court, District or County Courts and, at the next level, Magistrates or Local Courts. A judge usually presides over a second level court while either a magistrate or justice of the peace presides over a lower level court.
In addition, all jurisdictions have established tribunals to hear appeals against government decisions, administer particular areas of business (such as industrial relations) or administer particular laws (such as planning laws or retail tenancy laws).
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【We provide excellent, expert advice to businesses wishing to invest in Australia.】
To view our previous news for Chinese investors and various articles in relation with the topic ‘Doing business in Australia’, please click the button on the upper-right hand corner on our WeChat platform, and choose ‘view history’. The contents include:
Business set up in Australia, business structures,company administration, etc.
Background information of Australia, including Australian government, legal system, and business structures, etc.
Laws and regulations in various common areas, including protection of technology and intellectual property, anti-trust and consumer law, contract law, business migration, real property, public takeovers, and electronic commerce etc.
