Alex Steel | The University of New South Wales (original) (raw)
Papers by Alex Steel
Alternative Law Journal
What should be learnt in law school is currently a debated topic. One aspect of this debate is wh... more What should be learnt in law school is currently a debated topic. One aspect of this debate is whether what is taught in the core subjects is necessary or taught to the right level. In this article, we examine one such core subject: criminal law. The aim is to provide baseline information on what students are expected to read in the subject as a proxy for what is taught and what is learnt. By examining the range of topics, and the amount of words set, we provide an indication of the expected breadth of learning and cognitive load on students. This is relevant both to traditional face-to-face teaching and online innovations.
Media International Australia
Media International Australia
Alternative Law Journal
There are increasing reports of university students contracting with third parties to write their... more There are increasing reports of university students contracting with third parties to write their essays and assignments. While getting caught is likely to mean the student faces disciplinary action within the university, the students and those offering the service may also be exposing themselves to criminal prosecution. This article looks at the range of offences that students and the contract cheating services could be committing-including fraud, forgery and conspiracy. The article also recommends specific statutory offences be introduced. Far from an entrepreneurial innovation, the activities can be construed as serious crimes.
Both the New South Wales and Commonwealth governments have enacted major reforms to computer-rela... more Both the New South Wales and Commonwealth governments have enacted major reforms to computer-related offences. These reforms are based on the Model Criminal Code Chapter Four: Damage and Computer Offences. The reforms move from an emphasis on access to an emphasis on damage. While they provide principled limitations on some previous offences they also introduce new sweeping offences relating to network impairment and control of data preparatory to other offences. This article outlines the elements of these new offences and highlights the issues that are likely to arise in their enforcement. * The author wishes to thank Ian Leader-Elliott for his valuable and detailed comments on earlier drafts of this paper. All in turn led to a raft of computer access crimes which were sui generis in nature. However, as technology has developed significantly since then, it was felt further reform was necessary, particularly to take into account the prevalence of computer networks. The new offences in New South Wales 2 and the Commonwealth 3 represent this latest wave of reform. This article examines these new substantive offences. They are based entirely on the recommendations of the Model Criminal Code Officers Committee (the Committee) Report Chapter 4: Damage and Computer Offences (the MCCOC Report). 4 In comparison with the previous opinions expressed in the article are of course entirely the author's. 1 There were a large number of reports on the problem in the 1980s, the most significant in Australia being the Review of Commonwealth Criminal Law Interim Report on Computer Crime 1988 (the "Gibbs Report") and, in the United Kingdom,
Criminal Law Journal, 2000
Finally, the Federal Parliament currently has before it the Criminal Code Amendment (Theft, Fraud... more Finally, the Federal Parliament currently has before it the Criminal Code Amendment (Theft, Fraud, Bribery and Related Offences) Bill 1999. This Bill rejects the Peters analysis of dishonesty. It proposes in cl 14.2 of the Schedule to the Bill to enact in legislative form the English test of dishonesty. 4 This is despite the English
This paper examines the development of the element of fraudulence in larceny and its recasting as... more This paper examines the development of the element of fraudulence in larceny and its recasting as dishonesty in modern theft offences. It examines the diverg-ing approaches in England, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and attempts to explain the implications of the ...
Australian Journal of Legal History, 1999
Page 1. From the SelectedWorks of Alex Steel January 1999 A Non-Material form of Copyright: The S... more Page 1. From the SelectedWorks of Alex Steel January 1999 A Non-Material form of Copyright: The Strange History of Lecturer's Copyright ...
Courts have struggled to develop a test for dishonesty in both England and Australia. The English... more Courts have struggled to develop a test for dishonesty in both England and Australia. The English test as set out in Ghosh was considered by the Australian High Court in Peters v. The Queen but the court was unable to come up with a true majority opinion on the point. Differences of opinion on the meaning of the concept exist in Australian and English law, and a recent Consultation Paper by the Law Reform Commission of England and Wales has again raised the issue. This article reviews the different positions, and attempts to point a way forward for Australian law following the decision in Peters.
This article examines the mental elements of the new cartel offence in the Australian Trade Pract... more This article examines the mental elements of the new cartel offence in the Australian Trade Practices Act 1974. It compares the wording of the offence to the interpretation of mental elements under the Commonwealth Criminal Code in R v Tang, a High Court decision on the mental elements of sexual servitude (sex slavery) offence. It concludes that there is no practical difference between the mental elements of the cartel criminal offence and parallel civil penalty provisions and argues that additional mental elements are needed to justify the criminalisation of cartel activity.
This article offers a critique of the current understanding of the phrase 'financial advantag... more This article offers a critique of the current understanding of the phrase 'financial advantage' in Australian fraud offences. It begins by considering the history and use of these offences, and ultimately argues that the concept embodied by the phrase is far more complex and uncertain than recent case law suggests. It examines the concept in relation to both the English pecuniary advantage offences and the additional phrase 'any money or any valuable thing' in the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) s 178BA offence, and contrasts it with offences based on the causing of detriment. It is suggested that discussions of defaulting and penniless debtors in relation to the offence are misguided and that financial advantage can only occur when the accused is placed in a better position as a result of the deception, and the advantage obtained is 'financial' in nature.
Law is a text-based discipline. The comprehension and interpretation of the written word lies at ... more Law is a text-based discipline. The comprehension and interpretation of the written word lies at the core of legal reasoning and underpins legal writing. This article argues that developing the skills of critical legal reading is fundamental to all aspects of legal education and ultimately, to the practice of law. Law teachers have mastered and internalised the processes of legal reading, and sometimes therefore overlook the need to teach them explicitly to law students, who are novices. This paper examines the necessary mechanics, techniques and dispositions of critical legal reading in an overall taxonomy, contending that teaching these aspects in explicit and concrete ways is essential for students who are acquiring legal reading skills. Drawing on education, psychology and linguistic research fields, we offer a contemporary account of critical legal reading as a teachable skill and a core component of the undergraduate curriculum in law.
Contemporary higher education, including legal education, incorporates complexities that were not... more Contemporary higher education, including legal education, incorporates complexities that were not identified even a decade ago. Law programs first moved from traditional content-focussed programs toward incorporating critique and legal skills. Many are now working toward recognising inclusion and student wellbeing as integral to law graduates’ professional identities and skillsets. Yet the professional dispositions law teachers require to teach in these environments are ostensibly at odds with traditional lawyering identities founded upon an ideal of rationality that actively disengaged from affect. This article draws on our teaching experience and data drawn from the Smart Casual project, which designed self-directed professional development modules for sessional law teachers, to identify the limits of a traditional teaching skillset in the contemporary Australian tertiary law teaching context. We argue that contemporary legal education demands considerable emotional labour and we present sample contexts which highlight the challenges law teachers face in doing what is expected of them. The article makes explicit the emotional labour that has often been implicit or unrecognised in the role of legal academics in general, and in particular, in the role of sessional legal academics.
The University of New South Wales Law School is a larger Australian law school with a strong hist... more The University of New South Wales Law School is a larger Australian law school with a strong history of innovative pedagogy in teaching law. It was founded in the early 1970's with a conscious rejection of the lecture/tutorial mode of teaching in favour of an interactive seminar approach. Currently it teaches the majority of its classes to groups of 44 students. The approach to teaching law at UNSW has always been strongly contextual and with a strong emphasis on the impact that the law has on broader social issues. The law school funds its own community legal centre to which all students are exposed, and has a strong and growing external placement (for course credit) programprimarily with public interest related organisations.
Alternative Law Journal
What should be learnt in law school is currently a debated topic. One aspect of this debate is wh... more What should be learnt in law school is currently a debated topic. One aspect of this debate is whether what is taught in the core subjects is necessary or taught to the right level. In this article, we examine one such core subject: criminal law. The aim is to provide baseline information on what students are expected to read in the subject as a proxy for what is taught and what is learnt. By examining the range of topics, and the amount of words set, we provide an indication of the expected breadth of learning and cognitive load on students. This is relevant both to traditional face-to-face teaching and online innovations.
Media International Australia
Media International Australia
Alternative Law Journal
There are increasing reports of university students contracting with third parties to write their... more There are increasing reports of university students contracting with third parties to write their essays and assignments. While getting caught is likely to mean the student faces disciplinary action within the university, the students and those offering the service may also be exposing themselves to criminal prosecution. This article looks at the range of offences that students and the contract cheating services could be committing-including fraud, forgery and conspiracy. The article also recommends specific statutory offences be introduced. Far from an entrepreneurial innovation, the activities can be construed as serious crimes.
Both the New South Wales and Commonwealth governments have enacted major reforms to computer-rela... more Both the New South Wales and Commonwealth governments have enacted major reforms to computer-related offences. These reforms are based on the Model Criminal Code Chapter Four: Damage and Computer Offences. The reforms move from an emphasis on access to an emphasis on damage. While they provide principled limitations on some previous offences they also introduce new sweeping offences relating to network impairment and control of data preparatory to other offences. This article outlines the elements of these new offences and highlights the issues that are likely to arise in their enforcement. * The author wishes to thank Ian Leader-Elliott for his valuable and detailed comments on earlier drafts of this paper. All in turn led to a raft of computer access crimes which were sui generis in nature. However, as technology has developed significantly since then, it was felt further reform was necessary, particularly to take into account the prevalence of computer networks. The new offences in New South Wales 2 and the Commonwealth 3 represent this latest wave of reform. This article examines these new substantive offences. They are based entirely on the recommendations of the Model Criminal Code Officers Committee (the Committee) Report Chapter 4: Damage and Computer Offences (the MCCOC Report). 4 In comparison with the previous opinions expressed in the article are of course entirely the author's. 1 There were a large number of reports on the problem in the 1980s, the most significant in Australia being the Review of Commonwealth Criminal Law Interim Report on Computer Crime 1988 (the "Gibbs Report") and, in the United Kingdom,
Criminal Law Journal, 2000
Finally, the Federal Parliament currently has before it the Criminal Code Amendment (Theft, Fraud... more Finally, the Federal Parliament currently has before it the Criminal Code Amendment (Theft, Fraud, Bribery and Related Offences) Bill 1999. This Bill rejects the Peters analysis of dishonesty. It proposes in cl 14.2 of the Schedule to the Bill to enact in legislative form the English test of dishonesty. 4 This is despite the English
This paper examines the development of the element of fraudulence in larceny and its recasting as... more This paper examines the development of the element of fraudulence in larceny and its recasting as dishonesty in modern theft offences. It examines the diverg-ing approaches in England, Canada, New Zealand and Australia and attempts to explain the implications of the ...
Australian Journal of Legal History, 1999
Page 1. From the SelectedWorks of Alex Steel January 1999 A Non-Material form of Copyright: The S... more Page 1. From the SelectedWorks of Alex Steel January 1999 A Non-Material form of Copyright: The Strange History of Lecturer's Copyright ...
Courts have struggled to develop a test for dishonesty in both England and Australia. The English... more Courts have struggled to develop a test for dishonesty in both England and Australia. The English test as set out in Ghosh was considered by the Australian High Court in Peters v. The Queen but the court was unable to come up with a true majority opinion on the point. Differences of opinion on the meaning of the concept exist in Australian and English law, and a recent Consultation Paper by the Law Reform Commission of England and Wales has again raised the issue. This article reviews the different positions, and attempts to point a way forward for Australian law following the decision in Peters.
This article examines the mental elements of the new cartel offence in the Australian Trade Pract... more This article examines the mental elements of the new cartel offence in the Australian Trade Practices Act 1974. It compares the wording of the offence to the interpretation of mental elements under the Commonwealth Criminal Code in R v Tang, a High Court decision on the mental elements of sexual servitude (sex slavery) offence. It concludes that there is no practical difference between the mental elements of the cartel criminal offence and parallel civil penalty provisions and argues that additional mental elements are needed to justify the criminalisation of cartel activity.
This article offers a critique of the current understanding of the phrase 'financial advantag... more This article offers a critique of the current understanding of the phrase 'financial advantage' in Australian fraud offences. It begins by considering the history and use of these offences, and ultimately argues that the concept embodied by the phrase is far more complex and uncertain than recent case law suggests. It examines the concept in relation to both the English pecuniary advantage offences and the additional phrase 'any money or any valuable thing' in the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) s 178BA offence, and contrasts it with offences based on the causing of detriment. It is suggested that discussions of defaulting and penniless debtors in relation to the offence are misguided and that financial advantage can only occur when the accused is placed in a better position as a result of the deception, and the advantage obtained is 'financial' in nature.
Law is a text-based discipline. The comprehension and interpretation of the written word lies at ... more Law is a text-based discipline. The comprehension and interpretation of the written word lies at the core of legal reasoning and underpins legal writing. This article argues that developing the skills of critical legal reading is fundamental to all aspects of legal education and ultimately, to the practice of law. Law teachers have mastered and internalised the processes of legal reading, and sometimes therefore overlook the need to teach them explicitly to law students, who are novices. This paper examines the necessary mechanics, techniques and dispositions of critical legal reading in an overall taxonomy, contending that teaching these aspects in explicit and concrete ways is essential for students who are acquiring legal reading skills. Drawing on education, psychology and linguistic research fields, we offer a contemporary account of critical legal reading as a teachable skill and a core component of the undergraduate curriculum in law.
Contemporary higher education, including legal education, incorporates complexities that were not... more Contemporary higher education, including legal education, incorporates complexities that were not identified even a decade ago. Law programs first moved from traditional content-focussed programs toward incorporating critique and legal skills. Many are now working toward recognising inclusion and student wellbeing as integral to law graduates’ professional identities and skillsets. Yet the professional dispositions law teachers require to teach in these environments are ostensibly at odds with traditional lawyering identities founded upon an ideal of rationality that actively disengaged from affect. This article draws on our teaching experience and data drawn from the Smart Casual project, which designed self-directed professional development modules for sessional law teachers, to identify the limits of a traditional teaching skillset in the contemporary Australian tertiary law teaching context. We argue that contemporary legal education demands considerable emotional labour and we present sample contexts which highlight the challenges law teachers face in doing what is expected of them. The article makes explicit the emotional labour that has often been implicit or unrecognised in the role of legal academics in general, and in particular, in the role of sessional legal academics.
The University of New South Wales Law School is a larger Australian law school with a strong hist... more The University of New South Wales Law School is a larger Australian law school with a strong history of innovative pedagogy in teaching law. It was founded in the early 1970's with a conscious rejection of the lecture/tutorial mode of teaching in favour of an interactive seminar approach. Currently it teaches the majority of its classes to groups of 44 students. The approach to teaching law at UNSW has always been strongly contextual and with a strong emphasis on the impact that the law has on broader social issues. The law school funds its own community legal centre to which all students are exposed, and has a strong and growing external placement (for course credit) programprimarily with public interest related organisations.