Unit Synopsis
Evidence and Proof examines the statutory and common law principles of the law of evidence and procedure and meets the LPAB requirements for ‘evidence’. This unit explores the concept of a fair trial; proof and adversarialism; evidentiary issues to be addressed prior to trial; evidentiary principles and rules and their exceptions; the bases for privilege; judicial warnings, comment and directions; mandatory and discretionary exclusions; and the limitations on evidence.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisite: 48 credit point of Law units including LAWS11057. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Online Quiz(zes) | 20% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 30% |
| 3. Examination | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 92.86% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 18.42% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Unit Coordinator
Scaffolding of assessment items
Empower students by improving the scaffolding of each assessment item leading up to the exam.
Scaffolding provided via the first assessment, which covered basic concepts, second assessment was then created to provide students with the correct way to approach admission of evidence for final exam.
Source: SUTE
Include more contemporary content
Include more examples of contemporary content in the learning resources and in the live zoom sessions.
This was provided in (1) the Study Guides (2) Podcasts (3) via the Moodle site and (4) in lively tutorial discussions about current cases in the courts/news media.
Source: Self-reflection
Subject content review
Continue to refine content and tutorials for second iteration of the subject in 2026.
In Progress
Source: Students in live tutorials in 2025
Real world examples
Continue to refine and include concurrent examples to exemplify unit content in real world practice.
In Progress
Source: Self-reflection and student comments in live tutorials in 2025
Teaching forensic analysis
Podcasts and materials on thinking forensically - how to consider questions of proof, channels of admission and thinking like an advocate
In Progress
Source: Self-reflection and student comments in live tutorials in 2025
Emphasis on the importance of correct legal method
Creation of material available from Week 1 on how a detailed opinion on evidence should be structured. This will emphasise the need for students to retain what they learned about legal research and legal method in their Year 1 studies. It will (hopefully) provide an outline on where their basic legal skills need to be by no later than Week 6 of the subject.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Synthesise and evaluate the relevant legal principles of evidence law as they apply to problem fact scenarios.
- Conduct research, critically analyse sources and compare evidence law from multiple sources.
- Critically evaluate and reflect upon ethical issues which may arise in the context of applying evidence law in practice.
- Critically reflect upon cross cultural perspectives which may arise in the context of the implementation of evidence law in practice, including issues relating to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Examination | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | ||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | |||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |