This book comprises a selection of important articles and speeches by Sir Anthony Mason written and delivered when he was a justice and later Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia and after his retirement from that Court in 1995. The speeches and articles cover constitutional and administrative law, international law, human rights, equity and contract, the High Court, judicial administration, and advocacy. The book also includes a significant media interview, a State of the Judicature report delivered as the Chief Justice of Australia, and Sir Anthony's swearing in speeches when appointed as a justice and later Chief Justice of the High Court. Sir Anthony’s characteristic wit is on display.
The Mason Papers deals with highly topical subjects such as the role of the judge and judicial independence in a modern Western democracy; globalization; whether Australia should adopt a Bill of Rights, and if so, in what form; the establishment of an Australian republic; the decline of parliamentary and national sovereignty; and the health of Australia's parliamentary system of government.
Three key themes give powerful coherence to the book: the importance of transparent judicial reasoning; the responsibility of judges to interpret the common law, within limits, in response to changing circumstances and societal values; and the inevitable penetration of both international law and comparative law into the future development of Australian law.
The articles and speeches were chosen and edited by Professor Geoffrey Lindell in consultation with Sir Anthony.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Geoffrey Lindell
CHAPTER 1: Future Directions in Australian Law
CHAPTER 2: The Use and Abuse of Precedent
CHAPTER 3: The Role of the Judge at the Turn of the Century
CHAPTER 4: Legislative and Judicial Law-making: Can We Locate an Identifiable Boundary?
CHAPTER 5: Rights, Values and Legal Institutions: Reshaping Australian Institutions
CHAPTER 6: The Courts and Public Opinion
CHAPTER 7: The Role of a Constitutional Court in a Federation: A Comparison of the Australian and the United States Experience
CHAPTER 8: The Australian Constitution in Retrospect and Prospect
CHAPTER 9: The Convention Model for the Republic
CHAPTER 10: Administrative Law Reform: The Vision and the Reality
CHAPTER 11: The Analytical Foundations, Scope and Comparative Analysis of the Judicial Review of Administrative Action
CHAPTER 12: A Bill of Rights for Australia
CHAPTER 13: Courts, Constitutions and Fundamental Rights
CHAPTER 14: Deakin’s Vision, Australia’s Progress
CHAPTER 15: Democracy and the Law
CHAPTER 16: The Influence of International and Transnational Law on Australian Municipal Law
CHAPTER 17: Decline of Sovereignty: Problems for Democratic Government
CHAPTER 18: Themes and Tensions Underlying the Law of Contract
CHAPTER 19: The Place of Equity and Equitable Remedies in the Contemporary Common Law World
CHAPTER 20: Legal Research: Its Function and its Importance
CHAPTER 21: Judicial Independence and the Separation of Powers—Some Problems Old and New
CHAPTER 22: Sir Anthony’s Toast to the Contributors of the Oxford Companion to the High Court
CHAPTER 23: The State of the Australian Judicature
CHAPTER 24: The Role of Counsel and Appellate Advocacy
CHAPTER 25: Swearing in as Justice of the High Court, 8 August 1972
CHAPTER 26: Swearing in as Chief Justice of the High Court, 6 February 1987
CHAPTER 27: Chief Justice Comments on Fundamental Issues Facing the Judiciary
Biographical Details for Sir Anthony Mason AC, KBE
Table of Cases
Table of Legislation
Index