The latest issue of The Australian Law Journal (Volume 85 Part 3) contains the following material:

Articles

Home grown laws in a global neighbourhood: Australia, the United States and the rest – Chief Justice Robert French

The differences between legal systems sometimes generate controversy about the use of comparative legal materials. That controversy however, should be viewed in the larger context of the interactions between laws past and present, the subsistence of different legal traditions within the same country, the existence of shared legal histories between different countries, the existence of national laws dealing with subject matter that has become international because of global trade and commerce, and the migration of legal and constitutional ideas from one country to another. This lecture, delivered at the Alabama School of Law, reviews the varieties of trans-national legal interactions and suggests that the problem presented by the use of comparative materials is one of practical judgment rather than fundamental principle.

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The best interests principle: Truth, ideology or mantra? – Anthony Dickey

The principle that the best interests of the child is the paramount consideration has for long been regarded as axiomatic in matters involving children. But what does this principle really mean? And does the meaning ascribed to this principle by the courts reflect reality – or does it hide the truth?

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Compulsory acquisitions during the Australian colonial period – Duane L Ostler

Acquisition law during the Australian colonial period was far more robust than many might think. All of the Australian colonies enacted acquisitions legislation during this time, usually adapting the Land Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 (UK). The Australian colonies modified their acquisitions Acts, tailoring them to their own needs. Unlike the Americans, however, none of the Australian States inserted acquisition language in their Constitutions. There were many acquisition cases in the Australian colonies during the 1900s. The earliest cases usually dealt with Crown grants and reservations. Later cases described acquisitions law in respect to mill dams and flooding of property, as well as harm to property from the raising of roads or railways. However, the largest number of acquisition cases dealt with the calculation of compensation. In reviewing acquisition cases, courts usually were quite strict in following the applicable Acts.

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Section notes

CURRENT ISSUES – Editor: Mr Justice P W Young AO

  • Elected judges
  • Contempt of court: Where to draw the line
  • Litigants in person: McKenzie Friends – Ambit of authority
  • Juries and reasonable doubt
  • Aboriginal sentencing
  • Judges are human
  • New South Wales Judicial Commission 2009-2010 Annual Report

CONVEYANCING AND PROPERTY – Editor: Peter Butt

  • Compound interest: When should it be awarded?
  • Easements: Costly battles over principle
  • Interpreting registered leases: Can you look outside the register?

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS – Ryszard Piotrowicz

  • I do declare! ICJ declares Kosovo’s declaration of independence not unlawful

RECENT CASES – Editor: Mr Justice P W Young AO

  • Equitable set-off
  • Whether fiduciary duties or duties of care owed to partnership
  • Suing the executive council in tort
  • Crime: Engaging in conduct – How far constituted by omission
  • Extinguishment of easements
  • Wills: Negligence of solicitors in preparation
  • Cross examination by two counsel
  • Family law: Marriage by fraud
  • Corporations: Economic duress against liquidator

For the full table of contents, click here: ALJ Vol 85 Pt 3 Contents.