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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 Act was the second of the 1st Parliament in its first session and "the first substantive Commonwealth act to be enacted.". [4]: 22 fn 43 When introduced in 1901, the Act was modelled on and adopted many of the rules set out in the Interpretation Act 1889 and also adopted "some of the special provisions of the New South Wales Interpretation Act of 1897".
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 .
After Federation, the "Australian governments and the people had no use for the Aborigines." [ 7 ] Consideration of the indigenous population was limited to the "problem" of the potential for their number to influence the composition of the House of Representatives, and that was "solved" with section 127. [ 6 ]