Edit: Since writing this I've stumbled across Ron Sackville's recent article, Judicial Ethics and Judicial Misbehaviour: Two Sides of the One Coin? in the Journal of Law and Social Science.It traces the development of the NSW Judicial Commission and places it in historical context (if Lionel Murphy was Victorian it's at least arguable that we …
Month: November 2009
Drug Court
The usual process for justice sector reform has been fairly predictable in recent years; unveil a new initiative in one or two locations, wait for a year or so until the details are bedded down. then expand it to other places.Drug Court has bucked that trend. Introduced at Dandenong in 2002, it has yet to …
Human Rights and the European Convention
Together with a few hundred others I struggled through the oppressive heat on Tuesday evening to attend Parkville for the eighth annual Chancellor's Human Rights Lecture.As it turns out, I shouldn't have bothered. Not that Stephen Charles QC didn't read a thought-provoking paper; he did, although the time constraints and breadth of what he wanted …
WA Law: proof of facts on sentence
An addition to the body of law on the burden and standard of proof applicable to sentencing hearings appeared over the wires from Western Australia yesterday: Law v Western Australia [2009] WASCA 193It borrows heavily from our own R v Storey [1998] 1 VR 359. The prosecution have to prove aggravating facts in a sentencing …
Interim intervention orders and natural justice
The statutory scheme for dealing with complaints of family violence is set out in the Family Violence Protection Act 2008. Case law concerning the operation of this new Act is still rare. Some magistrates (who are tasked with applying the Act by considering applications for intervention orders) express disquiet over the way the system operates. …
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