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The Constitution of Australia (also known as the Commonwealth Constitution) is the fundamental law that governs the political structure of Australia.It is a written constitution, that establishes the country as a federation under a constitutional monarchy governed with a parliamentary system.
The Constitution of Australia established the principle of federalism in Australia. Federalism was adopted, as a constitutional principle, in Australia on 1 January 1901 – the date upon which the six self-governing Australian Colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia federated, formally constituting the Commonwealth of Australia.
The Constitutional history of Australia is the history of Australia's foundational legal principles. Australia's legal origins as a nation state began in the colonial era, with the reception of English law and the lack of any regard to existing Indigenous legal structures.
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The reception of English law in Western Australia and South Australia was later deemed by statute to have occurred on 1 June 1829 [12] and 28 December 1836 [13] respectively. The earliest civil and criminal courts established from the beginnings of the colony of New South Wales were rudimentary, adaptive and military in character.
State constitutions in Australia are the legal documents that establish and define the structure, powers, and functions of the six state governments in Australia. Each state constitution preceded the federal Constitution of Australia as the constitutions of the then six self-governing colonies .
The next constitutional convention – the Australasian Federal Convention – was held in stages in 1897–98. Unlike the first convention, the delegates from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania were elected by popular vote. [6] The delegates of Western Australia were chosen by its parliament.
Before the beginning of the first Constitutional Convention in Sydney in 1891, Sir Henry Parkes originally proposed the following resolution: . That the trade and intercourse between the Federated Colonies, whether by means of land carriage or coastal navigation, shall be free from the payment of Customs Duties, and from all restrictions whatsoever, except from such regulations as may be ...