Discrimination and refugees
By Edward Santow. The Brennan Report recommended major changes to many aspects of Australian human rights law and practice. However, media, academic and legal interest has focused almost exclusively on the recommendation for a national human rights Act.
Impact of migration law on the development of Australian administrative law
By Stephen Gageler SC. The constitutionalisation of federal administrative law and the resurrection of “jurisdictional error” as its unifying principle in the last 12 to 15 years track a significant and important doctrinal development.
The use of administrative law to enforce human rights
By Janina Boughey. In the absence of specific or adequate laws designed to enable individuals to enforce their human rights, it is inevitable that human rights claims will be made through other, established legal avenues. Some academics have suggested that administrative law is particularly susceptible to its principles being used to pursue human rights claims.
Is the accessibility of information on the WWW disrupting the foundation and rationale of the patent system of disclosure in exchange for grant of a patent?
By Eliza Jane Saunders. This article considers the reliability of information sourced through the internet and looks at how some of the major patent offices around the world use information disclosed on the World Wide Web (WWW) as a source of prior art information in the examination of patent applications.
"Human beings" as excluded subject matter for the purposes of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth)
By Dr Charles Lawson* The purpose of this article is to review the meaning of “human beings” as it is used in the Patents Act 1990 (Cth). The analysis demonstrates that the meaning remains uncertain and that appeals to essential characters and taxonomic conceptions of “human beings” are not satisfactory.
Conveyancing and property
Editor: Peter Butt. Each issue of ALJ brings readers the latest developments in conveyancing and property, written by experienced practitioners.
Barristers' work as a GST-free export
By Mark Brabazon SC. This article considers GST classification of barristers’ services when conventionally retained by Australian solicitors to act for a non-resident client that is not “in Australia”. It argues that the barrister’s supply is made and provided to the client rather than the solicitor, whether or not the solicitor is personally liable for counsel’s fees, and can qualify as a GST-free export on the same basis as a supply by a solicitor.
Science and judicial proceedings: Seventy-six years on
By Chief Justice Robert French. The intersection of law and science, particularly in relation to causality and the legal concept of causation, were of considerable interest to Sir Owen Dixon. In this article, revisiting Dixon’s 1933 lecture Science and Judicial Proceedings, the Chief Justice refers to Dixon’s deep interest in science and the issues to which it can give rise in legal proceedings.
Interview: Justice Geoffrey Giudice – An insider's look at Australia's new IR system
By Steven Andrew. The step from working as a practising barrister of the Victorian Bar to head of Australia’s leading workplace tribunal almost didn’t happen for one of Australia’s most respected judicial figures, Justice Geoffrey Giudice.
Should judges be mediators?
By the Hon Marilyn Warren AC. This article was originally presented by Chief Justice Warren at the Supreme and Federal Court Judges’ Conference in 2010. In it, her Honour advocates the pursuit of direct judicial involvement in alternative dispute resolution, but rejects the proposal that judges should act as mediators.