The Seven Habits of a Highly Effective High Court

I can cite no source for this and the three succeeding quotations, as I borrowed from many sources to write them myself, for pedagogical purposes, for a colloquium in 1997 with the ANU political science honours students enrolled in Professor John Warhurst's seminar course on ‘The Ten Best Books on Australian Politics’.

These cognate and mutually illuminating concepts are usefully elaborated in Blackshield Tony Coper Michael Williams George (eds), The Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia, Oxford University Press, 2001 (hereafter The Oxford Companion) by various authors: See, for example, Gageler Stephen , ‘Legalism’ (pp.429–30); Blackshield Tony , ‘Realism’ (pp.582–5); Brennan Gerard , ‘Values’ (pp.695–6); Mason Anthony , ‘Policy considerations’ (pp.535–6); Mason Anthony , ‘Law-making role: Reflections’ (pp.423–4); Gibbs Harry , ‘Law-making role: Further reflections’ (pp.424–5); Gleeson Murray , ‘Role of Court’ (pp.609–10); Coper Michael , ‘Political institution, Court as’ (pp.539–41).

Gould v Brown (1998) 193 CLR 346, Re Wakim; Ex parte McNally (1999) 198 CLR 511.

Rose Dennis , ‘The Bizarre Destruction of Cross-Vesting’ in Stone Adrienne Williams George (eds), The High Court at the Crossroads, The Federation Press, 2000, p.186.

See especially the majority judgments in Re Wakim, above, ref 3.

See the various contributions in Coper Michael Williams George (eds), How Many Cheers for Engineers? The Federation Press, 1997, especially Booker Keven Glass Arthur , ‘What Makes the Engineers Case a Classic?’, pp.45–71.

de Q Walker Geoffrey , ‘The Seven Pillars of Centralism: Engineers Case and Federalism’, (2002) 76 Australian Law Journal 678.

Coper Michael , ‘Section 92 of the Australian Constitution since Cole v Whitfield’ in Lee H.P. Winterton George , Australian Constitutional Perspectives, Law Book Co Ltd, 1992, p.129.

For Barwick's astonished reaction to Cole v Whitfield, see Bar News (NSW), Summer 1989, p.17.

Pile Stephen , The Book of Heroic Failures, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. See also Pile Stephen , The Return of Heroic Failures, Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, 1988.

Vickers Hugh , Great Operatic Disasters, Macmillan, 1979.

See Graham Morris , ‘Piddington, Albert Bathurst’ in The Oxford Companion, pp.533–5.

Covey Stephen , The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families, Allen & Unwin, 1997. See also Covey Stephen , The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Simon & Schuster, 1990.

See Attorney-General (NSW); Ex rel McKellar v Commonwealth (1977) 139 CLR 525, 532.

Piddington v Bennett and Wood Pty Ltd (1940) 63 CLR 533.

R v Murphy (1985) 158 CLR 596.

Smith Kline & French Laboratories (Aust) Ltd v Commonwealth, Carson v John Fairfax & Sons (1991) 173 CLR 194.

Heydon Dyson , ‘Judicial Activism and the Death of the Rule of Law’, (2003) Quadrant January-February, p.9. For the much anticipated reply, see Mason Anthony , ‘The Centenary of the High Court’, speech given at the UNSW 2003 Constitutional Law Conference Dinner, Parliament House, Sydney, 21 February 2003.

The Oxford Companion, pp.130–3.

Annual Report of the High Court of Australia 1998–1999, cited above, ref 19.

Simpson Amelia Simpson Troy , ‘Personal relations’, in The Oxford Companion, pp.528–31 at 531. See also Mason Anthony , ‘Personal relations: A personal reflection’, in The Oxford Companion, pp.531–3.

Oshlack v Richmond River Council (1998) 193 CLR 72.

Cited by Bennett David , ‘Argument before the Court’, in The Oxford Companion, pp.31–32 at 31.

Campbell Enid , ‘Reasons for Judgment: Some Consumer Perspectives’, (2003) 77 Australian Law Journal 62.

See Coper Michael , ‘Joint judgments and separate judgments’, in The Oxford Companion, pp.367–9.

The same point is made by Jackson David Priest Joan in ‘Gibbs, Harry Talbot’ in The Oxford Companion, pp.300–03 at 302.

I am indebted to Tony Blackshield for drawing this delightful phrase to my attention: For the source, see Belsey Catherine , Critical Practice, Methuen, 1980, pp. 4–5, where the author asserts that the language used in postmodern critical theory must be obscure in order to avoid the tyranny of lucidity.

Gerard Gertrude , ‘A Reply to the AAP Case’, (1977) 2 University of New South Wales Law Journal 105.

Covey , above, ref 13, p.390.

Schwartz Bernard , A Book of Legal Lists: The Best and Worst in American Law, Oxford University Press, 1997. See also Mersky Roy M Hartman Gary R. , 'Rating the Justices, (1992) 84 Law Library Journal 113.

The Oxford Companion, p.viii.

The Oxford Companion, pp.8–11 ( McMillan John ).

The Oxford Companion, pp.115–17 ( Fisher Simon ).

The Oxford Companion, pp.238–41 ( Jones Judith ).

The Oxford Companion, pp.243–6 ( Parkinson Patrick ).

The Oxford Companion, pp.684–6 ( Chalmers Donald Pont Gino Dal ).

The Oxford Companion pp.254–6 ( Heydon Dyson ).

The Oxford Companion, pp.2–3 ( Toohey John ), pp.110–13 ( Dominello Francesca ), pp.443–4 ( Blackshield Tony Fricke Graham Simpson Amelia ), pp.446–8 ( Nettheim Garth ), pp.576–9 ( Brennan Frank Dominello Francesca ). However, for developments since these entries were written, see Brennan Sean , ‘Ward, Wilson and Yorta Yorta: The High Court, Native Title and the Constitution a Decade after Mabo’, UNSW 2003 Constitutional Law Conference, Parliament House, Sydney, 21 February 2003.

The Oxford Companion, pp.181–4 ( Findlay Mark Yeo Stanley ).

The Oxford Companion, pp.256–8 ( Coper Michael ).

The Oxford Companion, pp.388–1 ( Brown David ).

The Oxford Companion, pp. 641–3 ( Pearce Dennis ).

The Oxford Companion, pp.659–1 ( Kobetsky Michael Krever Rick ).

Evaluating the Engineers case particularly raises this issue: Cf Windeyer J , in Victoria v Commonwealth (the Payroll Tax Case) (1971) 122 CLR 353, 395–397.

See, for example, Colbran Stephen , ‘Judicial Performance Evaluation: Accountability Without Compliance’, (2002) 76 Australian Law Journal 235 and the literature cited therein.

Arguably, fairness is necessary rather than antithetical to efficiency, but that is another debate.

See, for example, Evans Simon , ‘Appointment of Justices’ in The Oxford Companion, pp.19–23.

Heydon , above, ref 18, p.10.

Cf Coper Michael , Encounters with the Australian Constitution, CCH, 1987, p.419.

Sackville Ronald , ‘Activism’ in The Oxford Companion, pp.6–7. See also Mason , above, ref 18.

Coper Michael , ‘The Path of the Law’, (2002) 76 Australian Law Journal 716, 723.

Cf Blackshield Tony , ‘Judicial Reasoning’ in The Oxford Companion, pp.373–6.

I would not want it to be thought that I am assuming that this criterion should be dispositive in every case. Even if the history were not disputed (to which it is always vulnerable), many would nominate in the ‘failure’ category New South Wales v Commonwealth (the Incorporation Case) (1990) 169 CLR 482, precisely because of its fidelity to history. On the place of history, see Coper, above, ref 49, pp.408–18, and on consistency as a possible reconciliation, see Coper M. , ‘Interpreting the Constitution: A Handbook for Judges and Commentators’ in Blackshield Tony (ed.), Essays in Honour of Julius Stone, Butterworths, 1983, pp.52–67.

See further above, ref 8.

Bennett J.M. , ‘Establishment of Court’ in The Oxford Companion, pp.246–8; Keystone of the Federal Arch, AGPS, 1980.

Blackshield Tony Coper Michael Goldring John , ‘Privy Council’ in The Oxford Companion, pp.560–2; Coper , above ref 49, pp.104–09.