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All of the States and territories of Australia that are self-governing are separate jurisdictions. and have their own system of courts and parliaments. The systems of laws in each State are influential on each other, but not binding. Laws passed by the Parliament of Australia apply to the whole of Australia.

The organized system of law and government now in force in Australia is historically dependent for its legal validity on a series of British statutes. notably including the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900. The authority of the United Kingdom Parliament to enact those statutes depended on the acquisition of the Australian continent as a territorial possession of the British Crown .

Although the laws of the Australian colonies differed from England in many respects from the beginnings of white settlement, the underlying patterns of thought reflect the common law tradition as received from Britain .