DOCSLIB.ORG

Challenges to the Survival of the Common Law

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Challenges to the Survival of the Common Law CRITIQUE AND COMMENT INAUGURAL MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW ANNUAL LECTURE CHALLENGES TO THE SURVIVAL OF THE COMMON LAW STEPHEN MCLEISH* Modern conditions appear to pose challenges to the future of the common law. The range, volume and complexity of relevant and accessible material with which the common law has to deal have all grown rapidly. Statutory law has undergone corresponding growth, in a context where fundamental issues concerning the interaction between statutory and common law remain unresolved. Recalling the constitutional and democratic function of the courts may help meet these challenges. A court may only decide the case that is before it, and must do so according to law. This justifies regulating and if necessary confining the legal source materials to be accessed and relied upon in arguing and resolving a case. And recognition of the constitutional primacy of statute law is an essential starting point in ensuring cohesion of the body of statutory and common law. CONTENTS I Introduction .............................................................................................................. 818 II Growth and Complexity of the Common Law .................................................... 821 III Statutes and the Common Law .............................................................................. 825 IV Constitutional Considerations ............................................................................... 829 V Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 835 I INTRODUCTION In preparation for this lecture I thought it only fitting to delve into the past and look at the early issues of the Melbourne University Law Review and its * BA, LLB (Hons) (Melb), LLM (Harv); Solicitor-General for Victoria. I wish to thank Olaf Ciolek for his very considerable assistance in the course of preparing this paper and the Editors for their helpful comments and suggestions. 818 2014] Challenges to the Survival of the Common Law 819 predecessor publication, Res Judicatae. The journey up one of the perilous ladders that grant access to the upper shelves of the Supreme Court Library was well worth the effort. The first issue of Res Judicatae appeared in September 1935. While it was produced by the Law Students’ Society, and revived an earlier journal or magazine, it was a scholarly journal that, as Dr John Waugh’s history of the Melbourne Law School recounts, also embraced the school’s own goals.1 He explains that, as the only Australian university law journal at the time and one of very few Australian law journals at all, it rapidly distinguished itself as a forum for serious research. By 1939 Dean Professor Kenneth Bailey was able to report to the University Council that articles had been cited in the Com- monwealth Law Reports and in the Victorian Parliament.2 The first issue gives the flavour of what was to come, with articles by a collection of men who overwhelmingly went on to be leaders of the profession or the academy, and several already were. Professor Bailey himself wrote on the Privy Council,3 Professor George Paton on invitees,4 future judges Arthur Dean and Alexander Adam wrote on the Judicature Act 1873 (Imp) 36 & 37 Vict, c 665 and forgeries under the Transfer of Land Act 1928 (Vic)6 respective- ly. A young Edward Sykes wrote on the rule of law in the modern world.7 Other names familiar from various branches of Victoria’s later legal develop- ment included Norris,8 Menhennitt,9 Lush,10 Bradshaw11 and Harper.12 Later 1 John Waugh, First Principles: The Melbourne Law School 1857–2007(Miegunyah Press, 2007) 132–3. 2 K H Bailey, ‘Report of the Dean of the Faculty of Law’ (CP 1939/175, File No RC 1939/188: Registrar’s Correspondence, The University of Melbourne Archives) 2, cited in John Waugh, Diploma Privilege: Legal Education at the University of Melbourne 1857–1946 (PhD Thesis, The University of Melbourne, 2009) 216 n 33. 3 K H Bailey, ‘Appeals to the Privy Council in Constitutional Cases: A Proposal Examined’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 1. 4 G W Paton, ‘Invitees and Related Problems’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 6. 5 Arthur Dean, ‘What Did the Judicature Act Really Do?’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 13. 6 A G Adam, ‘The Transfer of Land Act and Forgery’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 16. 7 Edward I Sykes, ‘The “Rule of Law” in the Modern World: W Ivor Jennings, The Law and the Constitution’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 57. 8 J G Norris, ‘The Wife’s Position as a Secured Creditor in Her Husband’s Bankruptcy’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 20. 9 C I Menhennitt, ‘Administrative Tribunals in Victoria’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 28. 10 G H Lush, ‘Imprisonment in Civil Cases’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 38. 11 F Maxwell Bradshaw, ‘The Liability of Statutory Corporations for Ultra Vires Torts’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 44. 12 J B H, ‘The Imprisonment of John Bunyan’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 47. 820 Melbourne University Law Review [Vol 38:818 in the first volume we find contributions by Chief Justice Latham (on the law student),13 Justice Evatt (who gave two addresses to the society in succeeding weeks in 1937 on amending the Constitution),14 and Justice Dixon (on de facto officers).15 If the subject matter and the authors were scholarly, the Law Students’ Society itself was a serious body as well. Its eponymous name reflected the fact that there was only one Victorian law school. Comprised not only of law students but recent graduates, the first issue ofRes Judicatae records, surpris- ingly to modern readers, that the society sought as far as possible at its meetings to observe the procedure of the courts.16 By way of explanation, we are told that the society existed ‘to enable members to cultivate the art of forensic speaking, and also to provide for social intercourse’.17 At least by the 1980s and doubtless long before, those priorities had been somewhat reordered. Another glimpse into the world of the first issue of Res Judicatae tells us what were the recent legal developments of note. The first case notes were about Woolmington v Director of Public Prosecutions18 and the ‘golden thread’ of the criminal standard of proof19 and New South Wales v Bardolph,20 confirming the executive power of the States to contract without a prior parliamentary appropriation.21 The first editors clearly recognised a case of lasting importance when they saw one. As well, there was a review of a major new publication, called The Australian Digest.22 What is especially striking about the first issue of Res Judicatae is the length of the articles. Most were around three to five pages in length. There was but a sprinkling of footnotes. The seriousness of purpose and the quality of the publication continued, despite a wartime hiatus, and in 1957 Dean Zelman Cowen, following the 13 Chief Justice John Latham, ‘The Law Student’ (1937) 1 Res Judicatae 253. 14 Justice H V Evatt, ‘Amending the Constitution’ (1937) 1 Res Judicatae 264. 15 Justice Owen Dixon, ‘De Facto Officers’ (1938) Res1 Judicatae 285. 16 F M Bradshaw, ‘The Law Students’ Society of Victoria’ (1935) 1Res Judicatae 80, 80. 17 Ibid. 18 [1935] AC 462. 19 Notes and Comments, ‘The Burden of Proof in Criminal Cases: R v Woolmington’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 59. 20 (1934) 52 CLR 455. 21 K H B, ‘Contracts with the Crown: New South Wales v Bardolph [1935] ALR 22’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 63. 22 C I M, ‘The Australian Digest’ (1935) 1 Res Judicatae 72. 2014] Challenges to the Survival of the Common Law 821 model of the Harvard Law Review, was instrumental in the publication of the first volume of the Melbourne University Law Review (‘Review’).23 Still a student-run scholarly journal, the new entity entered the world without fanfare or even a preface, noting simply ‘formerly Res Judicatae’. Th e fi r st article was by Justice Fullagar, entitled ‘Legal Terminology’.24 There followed a lengthy exposition by Dean Cowen on the Victorian Constitution25 from 1856 to 195626 and an article by Dr Coppel on appeals to the Privy Council.27 Early editors and members of the Review are listed, as is still the case. Many names, then as later, appear regularly in the Victorian Reports, as judges (J D Phillips, Tadgell, Ormiston, Winneke, Charles, Batt) and eminent counsel (Merralls, McPhee, Pannam), to take only a few examples. II GROWTH AND COMPLEXITY OF THE COMMON LAW It is striking, when looking at old Reviews, that there was then only one law school in Victoria, comparatively small in size and very male in composition, and that there was a concentration of scholarship in one university law review. Today the number of institutions and publications has of course burgeoned. At the same time, works of erudition and detailed analysis are still being produced, but their length and the specificity of their subject matter has increased. So has the extent of their footnoted references to authorities and other scholarship. This growth in the scale and complexity of academic writing has been matched by a similar expansion in relation to case law. To take a rough measure, the 1957 volume of the Victorian Reports had 739 pages; the last annual volume, produced in 1999, had 2602. To some extent, each has fed on the other. The Review itself has roughly doubled in volume since 1957. It is in this rapid growth of source material that I identify the first of the challenges for the future of the common law that are the subject of this lecture. For present purposes I am using the expression ‘common law’ to refer to judge-made law emerging from the deciding of cases, which constitutes, along 23 Melbourne University Law Review, History (16 February 2013) <http://law.unimelb.edu.au/ mulr/about/history>. 24 Justice Wilfred Fullagar, ‘Legal Terminology’ (1957) 1 Melbourne University Law Review 1.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • High Court of Australia
    HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2000-01 High Court of Australia Canberra ACT 7 December 2001 Dear Attorney, In accordance with Section 47 of the High Court of Australia Act 1979, I submit on behalf of the Court and with its approval a report relating to the administration of the affairs of the High Court of Australia under Section 17 of the Act for the year ended 30 June 2001, together with financial statements in respect of the year in the form approved by the Minister for Finance. Sub-section 47(3) of the Act requires you to cause a copy of this report to be laid before each House of Parliament within 15 sitting days of that House after its receipt by you. Yours sincerely, (C.M. DOOGAN) Chief Executive and Principal Registrar of the High Court of Australia The Honourable D. Williams, AM, QC, MP Attorney-General Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 CONTENTS Page PART I - PREAMBLE Aids to Access 4 PART II - INTRODUCTION Chief Justice Gleeson 5 Justice Gaudron 5 Justice McHugh 6 Justice Gummow 6 Justice Kirby 6 Justice Hayne 7 Justice Callinan 7 PART III - THE YEAR IN REVIEW Changes in Proceedings 8 Self Represented Litigants 8 The Court and the Public 8 Developments in Information Technology 8 Links and Visits 8 PART IV - BACKGROUND INFORMATION Establishment 9 Functions and Powers 9 Sittings of the Court 9 Seat of the Court 11 Appointment of Justices of the High Court 12 Composition of the Court 12 Former Chief Justices and Justices of the Court 13 PART V - ADMINISTRATION General 14 External Scrutiny 14 Ecologically Sustainable Development
    [Show full text]
  • John Latham in Owen Dixon's Eyes
    Chapter Six John Latham in Owen Dixon’s Eyes Professor Philip Ayres Sir John Latham’s achievements are substantial in a number of fields, and it is surprising that, despite the accessibility of the Latham Papers at the National Library, no-one has written a biography, though Stuart Macintyre, who did the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, has told me that he had it in mind at one stage. Latham was born in 1877, nine years before Owen Dixon. As a student at the University of Melbourne, Latham held exhibitions and scholarships in logic, philosophy and law, and won the Supreme Court Judges’ Prize, being called to the Bar in 1904. He also found time to captain the Victorian lacrosse team. From 1917 he was head of Naval Intelligence (lieutenant-commander), and was on the Australian staff at the Versailles Peace Conference. Latham’s personality was rather aloof and cold. Philosophically he was a rationalist. From 1922-34 he was MHR for the Victorian seat of Kooyong (later held by R G Menzies and Andrew Peacock), and federal Attorney-General from 1925-29 in the Nationalist government, and again in 1931–34 in the Lyons United Australia Party government. In addition he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs from 1931-34. He resigned his seat and was subsequently appointed Chief Justice of the High Court (1935-52), taking leave in 1940-41 to go off to Tokyo as Australia’s first Minister to Japan. Latham was a connoisseur of Japanese culture. He fostered a Japan-Australia friendship society in the 1930s, and in 1934 he led an Australian diplomatic mission to Japan, arranging at that time for the visit to Australia of the Japanese training flotilla.
    [Show full text]
  • Judges and Retirement Ages
    JUDGES AND RETIREMENT AGES ALYSIA B LACKHAM* All Commonwealth, state and territory judges in Australia are subject to mandatory retirement ages. While the 1977 referendum, which introduced judicial retirement ages for the Australian federal judiciary, commanded broad public support, this article argues that the aims of judicial retirement ages are no longer valid in a modern society. Judicial retirement ages may be causing undue expense to the public purse and depriving the judiciary of skilled adjudicators. They are also contrary to contemporary notions of age equality. Therefore, demographic change warrants a reconsideration of s 72 of the Constitution and other statutes setting judicial retirement ages. This article sets out three alternatives to the current system of judicial retirement ages. It concludes that the best option is to remove age-based limitations on judicial tenure. CONTENTS I Introduction .............................................................................................................. 739 II Judicial Retirement Ages in Australia ................................................................... 740 A Federal Judiciary .......................................................................................... 740 B Australian States and Territories ............................................................... 745 III Criticism of Judicial Retirement Ages ................................................................... 752 A Critiques of Arguments in Favour of Retirement Ages ........................
    [Show full text]
  • Advocacy Training
    England as a source of Australian law – for how long? The Honourable Justice James Douglas Supreme Court of Queensland 6 October 2011 England as a source of Australian law – the present England has been the major source of Australian law at least since its reception formally in the Australian colonies, starting with New South Wales and Tasmania in 1828.1 English common law was normally applied locally and statutes, particularly those dealing with commercial law and legal procedure, were often adopted practically verbatim. Final appeals were taken, often directly, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, even after the creation of the High Court of Australia. The retention of that right of appeal was not part of the federation proposed originally and voted on in the referenda held in the Australian colonies in the 1890s. It always struck me as anomalous that major Australian disputes such as the Bank Nationalisation Case were decided finally in London.2 When I was a student in the late 1960s to the mid 1970s the idea that there was now an Australian common law, distinct from English common law, was relatively novel and the source of pride, at least for me, when I first read the High Court’s decision in Parker v The Queen3 decisively rejecting the approach of the House of Lords in respect of criminal intent in DPP v Smith4. Apart from the formal reasons for rejecting the House of Lord’s view, the anecdotal version of Sir Wilfred Fullagar’s reaction to the English decision, that they were “hanging men for manslaughter in England now”, was the most telling when I read it much later in Philip Ayres’ biography of Sir Owen Dixon5.
    [Show full text]
  • Hit and Myth in the Law Courts
    Dinner Address Hit and Myth in the Law Courts S E K Hulme, AM, QC Copyright 1994 by The Samuel Griffith Society. All rights reserved. Not unexpectedly, in this company, I will talk tonight about only one court; the one on your left as you cross the bridge over the lake. I want to do two things. I want firstly to consider a belief and a practice and a proposal concerning the High Court, in terms of the Court as it is, rather than in terms of the Court as it was. In doing that I want to say something of who used to come to the Court, and how; and who come to the Court now, and how. And secondly I want to share with you some reflections on statements made in recent months by the Chief Justice of the High Court. Where High Court Judges Come From, and Certain Implications of That I turn to the belief and the practice and the proposal I mentioned. I remind you of three things. The first is that one still finds supposedly intelligent commentators making disapproving references to the practical monopoly which the practising Bar has over appointments to the High Court, and suggesting that the field of appointees ought to be extended to include solicitors and academics. The second is that, in line with the constitutional principle that a judge ought to have nothing to fear and nothing to hope for from the government which appointed him, there long existed a general practice of not promoting judges, within a system of courts run by the same government, either from court to court, or within a court, as by promotion to Chief Justice.
    [Show full text]
  • Imagereal Capture
    "IT IS TRITE AND ANCIENT LAW": THE HIGH COURT AND THE USE OF THE OBVIOUS Richard Haigh- INTRODUCTION To be trite is to be worn out by constant use or repetition, or to be hackneyed or 1 commonplace. The word II triteII is derived from the Latin word terere meaning essentially lito rub". Thus, the word has physical associations, as if a trite remark actually erases its own origins because they are of no use anymore. Obviously the more used something is, the more trite it becomes, or so one would expect. There is even a built-in pejorative connotation, as to overuse a phrase, or resort to trite propositions can, in some cases, IIrubII the listener the wrong way. Since the very humble beginnings of the common law courts, judges have identified law that is trite. In the 15th century, Chief Justice Brian, in a case known only as T Pasch's case, said, in words that have since rung down the centuries: Moreover...your having it in your own mind is nothing, for it is trite law that the thought of man is not triable, for even the devil does not know what the thought of man is.2 As the common law continues to grow, and as ever more judicial decisions are available in both reported and unreported form, this use of triteness as a legal principle will no doubt continue unabated. But what is it? Where can one go to determine what the state of trite law is? On its own, the phrase may constitute a form of legal knowledge, but without more rigorous analysis of what it means, when it is used, and what it stands for, little of that knowledge can be passed down through generations.
    [Show full text]
  • The High Court of Australia: a Personal Impression of Its First 100 Years
    —M.U.L.R— Mason— Title of Article — printed 14/12/03 at 13:17 — page 864 of 25 THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA: A PERSONAL IMPRESSION OF ITS FIRST 100 YEARS ∗ THE HON SIR ANTHONY MASON AC KBE [This article records my impressions of the High Court, its jurisprudence and the Justices up to the time when I became Chief Justice in 1987. For obvious reasons it would be invidious for me to record my impressions of the Court from that time onwards. The article reviews the work of the Court and endeavours to convey a picture of the contribution and personality of some of the individual Justices. The article concludes with the statement that the Court has achieved the high objectives of which Alfred Deakin spoke in his second reading speech on the introduction of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth). The Court has established its reputation as one of the world’s leading courts of final appeal and has fulfilled its role alongside the Parliament and the executive in our constitutional framework.] CONTENTS I Introduction.............................................................................................................864 II In the Beginning......................................................................................................865 III The Early High Court..............................................................................................866 IV Conflict with the Executive ....................................................................................867 V Conflict with the Privy Council ..............................................................................868
    [Show full text]
  • Upholding the Australian Constitution, Volume 15
    Upholding the Australian Constitution Volume Fifteen Proceedings of the Fifteenth Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society Stamford Plaza Adelaide Hotel, North Terrace, Adelaide, 23–25 May, 2003 © Copyright 2003 by The Samuel Griffith Society. All rights reserved. Table of Contents Foreword John Stone Dinner Address Hon Justice Ian Callinan, AC The Law: Past and Present Tense Introductory Remarks John Stone Chapter One Hon Len King, AC, QC An Experiment in Constitutional Reform – South Australia’s Constitutional Convention 2003 Chapter Two Hon Trevor Griffin The South Australian Constitutional Framework – Good, Bad or What? Chapter Three Professor Geoffrey de Q Walker The Advance of Direct Democracy Chapter Four Hon Peter Reith Let’s Give Democracy a Chance: Some Suggestions Chapter Five Professor Peter Howell South Australia and Federation Chapter Six Professor Philip Ayres John Latham in Owen Dixon’s Eyes i Chapter Seven Rt Hon Sir Harry Gibbs, GCMG, AC, KBE Teoh : Some Reflections Chapter Eight Hon Senator Nick Minchin Voluntary Voting Chapter Nine Julian Leeser Don’t! You’ll Just Encourage Them Chapter Ten Dr Geoffrey Partington Hindmarsh Island and the Fabrication of Aboriginal Mythology Chapter Eleven Keith Windschuttle Mabo and the Fabrication of Aboriginal History Concluding Remarks Rt Hon Sir Harry Gibbs, GCMG, AC, KBE Appendix I Professor David Flint, AM Presentation to Sir Harry Gibbs Appendix II Contributors ii Foreword John Stone The fifteenth Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society, which was held in Adelaide in May, 2003 coincided, as it happened, with the lead-up to the South Australian Constitutional Convention, and it was appropriate, therefore, that the program should mark that fact by the inclusion of four papers having to do with that (at the time of writing, still impending) event.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir John Latham, a Political Biography, 1902 to 1934
    Antipodean Imperialist: Sir John Latham, a Political Biography, 1902 to 1934 Michael Kilmister BA(Hons)(Newcastle) A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History August 2018 This thesis was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship Abstract This dissertation examines Sir John Latham’s imperial ideology from the turn of the twentieth century, and traces how it shaped his political outlook and actions in the course of his parliamentary career, 1922-1934. Latham emerged as a very important political figure at a pivotal period for Australia and the British Empire. In response to emergent national sentiment in Australia and other settler societies before the First World War and after, British policymakers and intellectuals developed an overarching ideology that recast the British Empire as an interdependent yet loosely organised Commonwealth. Latham worked to translate and cement this liberal imperial worldview for Australian politics and diplomacy, lending it a conservative inflection in the process. Drawing on overlooked archival material, this thesis demonstrates that he developed and tested his antipodean pro-British imperialism in the exclusive meeting places of like-minded conservatives and applied its core tenets consistently in the making of national and imperial policy. Even though the British Empire rarely demonstrated the cohesion Latham desired, he remained committed to its causes. This dissertation retrieves Latham from a nationalist narrative, revealing that he pursued national interests within a British imperial framework. By re-establishing the all- encompassing importance of the British Empire to his political behaviour, I argue pro-British imperialism permeated the positions Latham took on domestic politics and international issues, notably the Australian Eastern Mission (1934).
    [Show full text]
  • Appellate Argument in the Communist Party Case GEORGE WILLIAMS'
    Reading the Judicial Mind: Appellate Argument in the Communist Party Case GEORGE WILLIAMS' Williams J: Then does that mean that Parliament could say that the existence of John Smith, an ordinary citizen, was a menace to the security of Australia and require that he be shot at dawn? Barwick: Oh no, Your Honour.' Introduction A shadow was cast over Australian society in the early 1950s by a wide- spread, though largely unfounded, fear of internal subversion by communism. Anti-communist hysteria in the community, churches, trade unions and Parliament was engendered by the onset of the cold war and skilful political manipulation. The tensions and pressures of the era were inflamed by the attempt to suppress communism through the Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 (Cth). The Dissolution Act was significant because in seeking to suppress communism in Australia it compromised the freedom of political speech and association previously enjoyed by the Australian people. The Act may have instilled another, equally intolerant, form of totalitarianism in Australia. One only has to look at the history of nations such as South Africa and Chile in the early 1950s, which passed legislation similar to the DissolutionAct, to realise that such legislation may have laid the foundations for a police state.2 In the jubilee year of Federation the defeat of the DissolutionAct in the High Court may thus have been the stumbling block to what could have been Australia's first step into democratic oblivion. The principal actors in the drama surrounding the Dissolution Act were four lawyers. Robert Menzies and Herbert Evatt clashed in the political arena, Owen Dixon led the way on the High Court and Garfield Barwick emerged to * BEc LLB (Hons).
    [Show full text]
  • Ancora Imparo: the Historical Role of the Law Review in University Scholarship
    ANCORA IMPARO: THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF THE LAW REVIEW IN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP MARILYN PITTARD AND PETER HEFFEY* The Monash University Law Review celebrates its 3Qhanniversary in 2004. This article traces the historical development and scholarly contribution of the Law Review since its inception in 1974 and where appropriate places this in the wider context of developments concerning issues facing university law reviews today. It examines the governance of the Review, in comparison with the diverse models of other Australian university reviews, the categories of its authors and the topics they have explored in illuminating legal debate, the evolution of its cover design, its sources of support and sponsorship, its annual celebratory dinner speech, and its future. Following surveys of data, and research, relevant data, set out in tabular form, is provided in respect of various matters including the following comparative matters: the chronological order for commencement of Australian mainstream university law reviews; comparative governance models of Australian law reviews; and online accessibility of law reviews in Australia. University law reviews have become an entrenched and valued part of the scholarly, academic and collegiate life of law schools in Australia. The Monash University Law Review,' celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2004, aims to enlighten the legal community by providing a forum for scholarly discourse. In so doing it adheres to the philosophy enshrined in its University's motto: Ancora Imparo ('I am still learning').2 The Law Review also plays an educative role in the lives of our academically outstanding students by providing them with substantial editorial experience. This article examines the role of the Law Review and considers its governance compared to that of other university reviews, the themes it has explored, the contribution made by its authors, the sponsorship and support it has received, and the future that it faces.
    [Show full text]
  • View the Transcript
    THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA 1939 - 1940 - 1941 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA DURING THE YEARS 1939 - 1940 - 1941 EDITED BY JOHN V. BARRY BARRISTER-AT-LAW AND R. J. WRIGHT-SMITH, M.D., B.s. VOL. IV 1941 BROWN, PRIOR, ANDERSON PTY. LTD. MELBOURNE For circulation among the members of the Medico-Legal Society of Victoria Impression limited to 300 copies ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Wholly set up and printed in Australia by Brown, Prior, Anderson Pty. Ltd., Printoraft House, 430 Little Bourke St., Melbourne, C.1, 1341 OFFICE-BEARERS OF THE MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA Past Presidents: The late Mr. Justice McArthur (1931- 1932), Dr. C. H. Mollison (1932-1933), Mr. Wilbur Ham, K.C. (1933-1934), Dr. Mark Gardner (1934-1935), the Rt. Hon. Sir John Latham, P.C.. K.C.M.G., Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia (1937-1939), Dr. F. Kingsley Norris (1939-1940), Mr. Justice Lowe, of the Supreme Court of Victoria (1940-1941). 1939-1940 President: Dr. F. Kingsley Norris. Dr. D. Murray ERRATA horpe. Page v: Past Presidents, line 3, read after Dr. Mark Gardner (1934- •. Eric Cooper. 1935) Mr. Wilfred Fullagar, K.C. (1935-1936). E. Coates. Page viii: "Fullagar, W. K., Esq.," should read "Fullagar, W. K., Esq., K.C." ar, K.C., Messrs. Page viii: "Ham, Wilbur, Esq.," should , Drs. 'Mollison, read "Ham, Wilbur, Esq., K.C." and John Adey. Page 245: Line 16, "grandfather of Spencer the poet" should read "grandfather of Cowper the poet." Lowe. Page 249: Line 19, "latter's" should read "former's." lur Judge A.
    [Show full text]