*Please note that the links to the content in this Part will direct you to Westlaw AU.

To purchase an article, please email: [email protected] or contact us on 1300 304 195 (Australian customers) or +61 2 8587 7980 (international customers) during business hours (Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm AEST).

The latest issue of the Australian Law Journal (Volume 100 Part 1) contains the following material:

CURRENT ISSUES – Editor: Justice François Kunc

  • The Australian Legal Convention 2025
  • Steps Forward and Back
  • The Curated Page

THE LEGAL OBSERVER – Editor: Michael Pelly

CONVEYANCING AND PROPERTY – Editors: Robert Angyal SC and Brendan Edgeworth

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS – Editor: Devon Whittle

Articles

The State of the Australian Judicature in 2025 – Stephen Gageler

In his second The State of the Australian Judicature address, delivered at the opening of the Australian Legal Convention held at the High Court in November 2025, Chief Justice Gageler explains the purpose of the Convention as being to facilitate dialogue between the many parts of the Australian legal system on the contemporary challenges facing the system and the potential for coordinated responses. Chief Justice Gageler introduces the main themes to be explored throughout Convention, including: public confidence in the judicature; the use of artificial intelligence in the legal system; First Nations justice; access to justice; responses to family and sexual violence; the well-being of the judicature, practitioners, academics and students; and the future of legal education and training.

Australia’s Climate Change Legal Obligations – John Basten

The International Court of Justice has spelled out States’ responsibilities and obligations under the climate change treaties and customary international law in terms which rejected Australia’s submission that it was not responsible for greenhouse gas emissions from the production and burning overseas of exported fossil fuels. That raises an urgent issue as to the relationship between customary international law and domestic law. The common assumption is that, based on the doctrine known as dualism, is that customary international law has no domestic operation until adopted by statute. This paper contends that the assumption both lacks nuance and is contrary to authority. Rather, customary international law forms part of the common law in Australia, unless inconsistent with statute, and should be applied and enforced domestically.

Hale and Mansfield: Common Law Resilience and Common Law Innovation – Stephen Gageler and Helen Winkelmann

Sir Matthew Hale and Lord Mansfield stand as two of the most influential Chief Justices in the history of the English common law. Each shepherded the common law through a time of disruption: Hale through the political disruption of the English civil war and restoration; Mansfield through the technological disruption of the industrial revolution. Hale is celebrated for his resilience in upholding the core values of the common law; Mansfield for his innovation. Together, they reflect the best of the common law tradition and its potential to respond to the needs of the age. Writing centuries later, Chief Justices Gageler and Winkelmann reflect upon the lives and times of Hale and Mansfield, highlighting their distinctive yet complementary contributions to the common law tradition and drawing upon their legacies to reflect on how a judiciary within that common law tradition might be expected to address contemporary global challenges.

BOOK REVIEWS – Editor: Angelina Gomez

  • Vicarious Trauma & Burnout in Law: Managing Psychological Stress to Promote Safety, Performance, and Wellbeing in Legal Practice, by Dr Colin James
  • Judging, by Ross Cranston

For the PDF version of the table of contents, click here: New Westlaw Australia – ALJ Vol 100 No 1 Contents

Click here to access this Part on New Westlaw AU

For general queries, please contact: [email protected].