*Please note that the links to the content in this Part will direct you to Westlaw AU.<\/p>\n
To purchase an article, please email: care.anz@tr.com<\/a> or contact us on 1300 304 195 (Australian customers) or +61 2 9171 9769 (international customers) during business hours (Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm AEST).<\/p>\n The latest issue of the Public Law Review<\/em> (Volume 34 Part 3) contains the following material:<\/p>\n COMMENT \u2013 Editor: Dan Meagher<\/em><\/p>\n SPEECH<\/p>\n Trespass, Recordings, and Freedom of Speech in Australia: Balancing Private Law, Criminal Law, and Constitutional Freedoms <\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u2013 Joachim Dietrich<\/p>\n The Surveillance Devices Act 2007 <\/em>(NSW) criminalises trespass to land (especially by installing surveillance devices) but significantly, it also criminalises the communication or possession of records of activities or private conversations (or reports thereof) if those records were obtained by entry onto premises or interference with goods without the owners\u2019 consent. In Farm Transparency International Ltd v New South Wales <\/em>(Farm Transparency), the High Court was asked to consider the constitutional validity of those provisions. The majority of the High Court found that the provisions in question did not infringe the implied constitutional freedom of communication on governmental and political matters. This article concludes that the majority failed to adequately balance the constitutional implied freedom of political communication against the rights sought to be protected by the Act. In reaching that conclusion, this article explores the complex interaction of private law, criminal statute, and constitutional freedoms.<\/p>\n A \u201cGrand Inquest\u201d of a State? The Parliamentary Grand Inquest Inquiry Power in Australia <\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u2013 Stephen James<\/p>\n Only a handful of works have explicitly explored the applicability of the parliamentary \u201cgrand inquest\u201d inquiry power in Australia, and fewer still at the State level. This article builds on those works by examining the grand inquest power through close examination of the 1855 edition of Thomas Erskine May\u2019s classic treatise on parliamentary privilege, contemporary 19th-century scholarly works, and Australian parliamentary procedure and practice manuals. It addresses the following key questions: What is the grand inquest power? How, if at all, is it limited? What is its applicability and scope in the Australian context, particularly at the State level? The article concludes that States that linked their powers, privileges and immunities to those of the House of Commons possess that chamber\u2019s grand inquest power in full measure, not limited to their parliaments\u2019 legislative powers. Significantly, this is consistent with parliaments\u2019 diverse non-legislative functions.<\/p>\n Convergence and Divergence: The Influence of American Constitutionalism on Sir Owen Dixon <\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u2013 Aryan Mohseni<\/p>\n Sir Owen Dixon\u2019s increasing disillusionment with the state of the English judiciary during his tenure as Justice, and later Chief Justice, of the High Court of Australia is well known. What is less well known is his admiration for early American constitutional law scholarship. This article explores that theme with particular reference to Dixon\u2019s friendship with Justice Felix Frankfurter of the US Supreme Court, both of whom had a similar judicial cast of mind and were fascinated by the unique analytical complexities posed by a federal system. It will be seen that Dixon\u2019s treatment of three constitutional issues \u2013 the common law and the Constitution, intergovernmental immunities, and federal judicial power \u2013 bore all the hallmarks of American thought in these areas. But Dixon\u2019s disillusionment with the composition of the US Supreme Court, and his aversion to the growing prominence of \u201cDue Process\u201d, tempered this enthusiasm with scepticism in his later years.<\/p>\n DEVELOPMENTS<\/a><\/p>\n For the PDF version of the table of contents, click here: New Westlaw Australia – PLR Vol 34 No 3 Contents<\/a>.<\/p>\n Click here to access this Part on New Westlaw AU<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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