The High Court, the Constitution and Australian Politics is an in-depth exploration of the relationship between decisions of the High Court and broader political currents in Australia. It begins with an investigation of the patterns and effects of constitutional invalidation and dissent on the High Court over time, and their correlation with political trends and attitudes. It also examines the role of constitutional amendment in expressing popular constitutional understandings in the Australian system. Subsequent chapters focus on the eras marked by the tenure of the Court's 12 Chief Justices, examining Court's decisions in the context of the prevailing political conditions and understandings of each. Together, the chapters canvass a rich variety of accounts of the relationship between constitutional law and politics in Australia, and of how this relationship is affected by factors such as the process of appointment for High Court judges and the Court's explicit willingness to consider political and community values.

This edited collection brings together scholars and practitioners in every chapter to provide a comprehensive and unique exploration of courts in Australia. The primary focus is to identify controversies, challenges and change, in the form of potential reforms within the courts across Australian jurisdictions. Bringing forward original research and scholarship on a wide array of courts in Australia, combined with insightful practitioner perspectives, research will be effectively integrated with practice. This book is the first comprehensive collection of its kind to canvas the diversity of courts in Australia, providing comprehensive critical analysis of contemporary issues, debates and reforms. It considers the array of courts across state, territory and national jurisdictions in Australia, including coroners’ courts, family courts, criminal, civil courts and problem solving courts. It also adopts an intersectional approach, providing insights into the perspectives of various court users such as people with disability, ethnic minorities, Indigenous Australians, and victims of crime. Each chapter provides opportunities for further debate among scholars, practitioners and students regarding potential future directions for reform to improve the efficacy, equity and accessibility of Australian courts.This collection serves as an international ready reference for students, scholars and practitioners alike.

How to Run Your Own Court Case is a simple, practical how-to guide to representing yourself in a non-criminal court or tribunal. It applies Australia-wide and covers all areas of non-criminal law, including debt, consumer claims, landlord and tenant issues, family law and appeals of government decisions. The book can be used by both the person bringing the action and someone defending an action brought against them. Although written for non-lawyers, it is also a useful resource for law students and new lawyers.

Revealing analysis of how judges work as individuals and collectively to uphold judicial values in the face of contemporary challenges.

This definitive survey of the Australian judiciary describes and evaluates the work, techniques, problems and future of courts and judges.

Courts and Federalism examines recent developments in the judicial review of federalism in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Through detailed surveys of these three countries, Gerald Baier clearly demonstrates that understanding judicial doctrine is key to understanding judicial power in a federation. Baier offers overwhelming evidence of doctrine's formative role in division-of-power disputes and its positive contribution to the operation of a federal system. Courts and Federalism urges political scientists to take courts and judicial reasoning more seriously in their accounts of federal government. Courts and Federalism will appeal to readers interested in the comparative study of law and government as well as the interaction of law and federalism in contemporary society.

Courts are key players in the dynamics of federal countries since their rulings have a direct impact on the ability of governments to centralize and decentralize power. Courts in Federal Countries examines the role high courts play in thirteen countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Nigeria, Spain, and the United States. The volume’s contributors analyse the centralizing or decentralizing forces at play following a court’s ruling on issues such as individual rights, economic affairs, social issues, and other matters. The thirteen substantive chapters have been written to facilitate comparability between the countries. Each chapter outlines a country’s federal system, explains the constitutional and institutional status of the court system, and discusses the high court’s jurisprudence in light of these features. Courts in Federal Countries offers insightful explanations of judicial behaviour in the world’s leading federations.

Australian Offshore Laws brings together in one place a reference to all laws that apply to offshore Australian waters for the benefit of legal practitioners, regulators, academics and students. It demonstrates the unnecessary complexity of the Australian offshore legal regime and proposes, as a first step towards reform, a review of the Offshore Constitutional Settlement of 1979 (OCS 1979). It discusses the manner of present drafting of such laws as many Commonwealth, State, and Territory laws apply offshore but few are drafted in a manner which identifies their limits or recognises their interaction with other offshore laws of with the OCS 1979.

This is an updated guide to, and analysis of Australian courts and tribunals, their jurisdiction and their functioning. The book traces the development of the Australian court system from their English and colonial origins and gives and up-to-date account of the modern system.