Transport law (or transportation law) is the area of

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

dealing with

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

. The laws can apply very broadly at a transport system level or more narrowly to transport things or activities within that system such as vehicles, things and behaviours. Transport law is generally found in two main areas: *

Legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

statutory law A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wi ...

passed or made by

elected officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...

like Parliaments or made by other officials under delegation *

Case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of ...

decided by courts Legislation typically consists of statutes known as Acts and

delegated legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative democ ...

regulations Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

, orders or notices. Case law consists of

judgments Judgement (or judgment) is the evaluation of given circumstances to Decision-making, make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. In an informal context, a judgement is opinion expressed as fact. In the context o ...

, findings and rulings handed down by courts.

Transport system things and activities

Transport laws can apply at a global transport system-wide level. A transport system can encompass a wide range of matters which make up the system. These include - * heavy and light rail systems including associated land, infrastructure and rolling stock which comprise

trains A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

trams A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

and light rail vehicles *

roads A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The ...

including freeways, arterial roads and paths *

vehicles A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velomobiles), animal-powered tr ...

including

cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

and bicycles *

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

s and waterways * commercial

ships A ship is a large vessel that travels the world's oceans and other navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, ...

and recreational vessels * air transport systems and aircraft. A transport system includes not only system infrastructure and conveyances, but also things like - *

communication systems A communications system is a collection of individual telecommunications networks systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and terminal equipment usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an integrated whole. Commun ...

and other technologies * strategic, business and operational plans * schedules, timetables and ticketing systems * safety systems * labour components * service components * government decision makers like Ministers, departments, authorities, corporations, agencies and other legal persons. The Transport Integration Act of Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

provides an example of the use of a broad statutory formulation to circumscribe the operation of a transport law in legislative form. Individual components can be identified from this broad transport system formulation and then regulated discreetly. For example, a bus or a car forms part of a broad transport system but are commonly regulated on an individual basis in terms of identification (registration), control of the vehicle (driver licensing and drug and blood alcohol controls), vehicle forms and fittings (vehicle standards) and other safety requirements.

Examples of transport legislation

Victoria again provides an example of a jurisdiction with a suite of transport legislation which operates both at transport system and modal or activity levels.

System level

The Transport Integration Act sets out the overall policy framework for transport in Victoria. It also establishes and sets the charters of the key government agencies which make decisions affecting the planning and operation of the State's transport system and each agency is required by the statute to have regard to the policy framework. As a general rule, transport agencies and officials do not exist in their own right and have no existence or power without conferral from a transport law. Legislation is commonly required for this purpose. Transport decision makers and agencies established and/or empowered by the Transport Integration Act Transport Integration Act 2010 - see Parts 3, 5, 5A, 6, and 6A. include - * key government figures such as Ministers (currently the Minister for Public Transport, the Minister for Roads and the Minister for Ports) * a central government Department - the Department of Transport (Victoria, 2019–) - responsible for system-wide planning, integration and coordination * a public transport agency responsible for providing or regulating train, tram, light rail, bus and

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

services - the Public Transport Development Authority * a road agency responsible for road construction and maintenance and vehicles and towing services regulation - the Roads Corporation ( VicRoads) * agencies responsible for discrete parts of the rail system such as land, infrastructure and other assets (Victorian Rail Track ( VicTrack)) and regional services ( V/Line Corporation) * agencies responsible for

s and other waters - the Port of Melbourne Corporation, the Port of Hastings Development Authority, the Victorian Regional Channels Authority and local and other authorities * an independent transport safety regulator ( Director, Transport Safety) and independent safety investigator (the Chief Investigator, Transport Safety) The Transport Integration Act establishes these agencies and sets their statutory charters. The charters circumscribe the agencies' jurisdiction or power to operate in and to regulate their respective components of the transport system.

Mode or activity-based legislation

Victoria has a range of statutes which regulate transport modes and transport-related activities throughout the State. These include: * the Road Management Act 2004 * the Road Safety Act 1986 * the Rail Management Act 1996 * the Rail Safety Act 2006 * the Bus Safety Act 2009 * the Bus Services Act 1995 * the Accident Towing Services Act 2007 * the Major Transport Projects Facilitation Act 2009 * the Port Management Act 1995 * the Marine Act 1988 * the Tourist and Heritage Railways Act 2010

Case law and law from other sources

Areas of transport law governed by court decisions and other non transport statutes or laws include property law, contract law, torts law and specialist regulation governing the contract of carriage, and the relationship between carriers and passengers in

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

and shippers and cargo owners in

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control