Magna Carta
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This resource presents Magna Carta in its historical context, using contemporary language and perspectives looking at the Australian Communist Party Case. It explores events of 1215, reactions to royal power, and the document’s immediate impact, helping readers understand Magna Carta as a political compromise rather than a mythical charter.
Australian Communist Party Case
Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth [1951] HCA 5
Overview
In the late 1940's the Australian Government was dealing with attempts by the Australian Communist Party to destabilize the government and economy by encouraging strikes in essential industries.
The Australian Parliament passed the Communist Party Dissolution Act to dissolve the Australian Communist Party, forfeit their property to the Government, as well as to disqualify the members and officers of the Party from employment if they worked for the Government.
The Act was challenged in the High Court of Australia as being beyond the law making power of the Parliament according to the Australian Constitution.
In one of its most famous judgments the High Court struck down the Act because Parliament did not have the power to make such a law according to the Australian Constitution. A check on the power of Parliament according to the law is a very modern expression of the legacy of the Magna Carta.
The story of the Communist Party, Communist Party Dissolution Act and the role of the High Court is told below in a newspaper format with the below booklet. Note: they are not real newspapers from the 1940s and 50s, but representations.
Related Resources
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One page Fact Sheet summarising key concepts about the Magna Carta. Can be used as part of Informed Civics Competition. The Magna Carta introduced the concept of equality before the law, independent judiciary, checks and balances on power and judgement before your peers.
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This classroom activity looks at legacies and how they shape society. It includes short questions on a video about the Magna Carta in Australia and then extends students to consider where the rights from Magna Carta can be seen in modern Human Rights documents today.
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