Policy-Based Reasoning in Private Law. The Australian community devotes a great deal of attention to improving the regulation of commercial and consumer relations through participative, public processes such as law reform commissions and parliamentary inquiries. The important role of judicial law-making in regulating economic and social relations is often overlooked. This project will examine the way in which the pursuit of policy goals influences judicial law-making in the private law sphere. T ....Policy-Based Reasoning in Private Law. The Australian community devotes a great deal of attention to improving the regulation of commercial and consumer relations through participative, public processes such as law reform commissions and parliamentary inquiries. The important role of judicial law-making in regulating economic and social relations is often overlooked. This project will examine the way in which the pursuit of policy goals influences judicial law-making in the private law sphere. The project will make an important contribution to the international debate about the legitimacy of policy considerations in judicial-making in private law, and the extent of the legitimate law-making role of the courts in a democratic system.Read moreRead less
Causation and Liability for Wrongs: A Globalised Analysis. All Australians pay when fundamental legal concepts are unclear. Practitioners' advice to clients becomes difficult, costly and uncertain. Disputants are more likely to litigate, putting unnecessary pressure on over-stretched court resources. Australians pay for courts through taxes and pay indirectly when commercial litigants push their higher legal costs down into the prices they charge. Drawing on materials world-wide this project w ....Causation and Liability for Wrongs: A Globalised Analysis. All Australians pay when fundamental legal concepts are unclear. Practitioners' advice to clients becomes difficult, costly and uncertain. Disputants are more likely to litigate, putting unnecessary pressure on over-stretched court resources. Australians pay for courts through taxes and pay indirectly when commercial litigants push their higher legal costs down into the prices they charge. Drawing on materials world-wide this project will produce a globally-applicable elaboration of two especially problematic concepts, causation and the extent of liability. Such clarification should reduce waste in the Australian economy while ensuring a basic requirement of justice: that like cases are treated alike. Assessment of damages.Read moreRead less
The Liability of Corporate Groups. The importance of a re-examination of the rules of limited liability has been demonstrated in many recent cases of corporate wrongdoing and collapse. This has been highlighted by the restructuring of the James Hardie Group of companies, the conscious aim of which was the decision to free the group of its asbestos liability 'legacy'. Were it not for government intervention, thousands of persons injured by asbestos products would have gone without compensation. ....The Liability of Corporate Groups. The importance of a re-examination of the rules of limited liability has been demonstrated in many recent cases of corporate wrongdoing and collapse. This has been highlighted by the restructuring of the James Hardie Group of companies, the conscious aim of which was the decision to free the group of its asbestos liability 'legacy'. Were it not for government intervention, thousands of persons injured by asbestos products would have gone without compensation. One means by which such unfairness can be avoided is by reform to the rules of limited liability. This project will explore the means by which this could be achieved.Read moreRead less
Judicial perceptions of the media: a thematic analysis. The relationship between the courts and the media is important for open justice and democratic values. This project examines how judges view the media and their role, and the impact this has on decisions about the media's conduct.
Legal Responses to Systemic Injuries: Towards a New Paradigm for Compensation. This research aims to identify better and fairer ways for the legal system to respond to systemic injuries, such as the taking of indigenous children from their families, or widespread abuse of children in institutional settings. The tort system is under attack from various quarters: in this context, its failure lies in its focus on harms that happen on a one-to-one, rather than a systemic basis. The research will r ....Legal Responses to Systemic Injuries: Towards a New Paradigm for Compensation. This research aims to identify better and fairer ways for the legal system to respond to systemic injuries, such as the taking of indigenous children from their families, or widespread abuse of children in institutional settings. The tort system is under attack from various quarters: in this context, its failure lies in its focus on harms that happen on a one-to-one, rather than a systemic basis. The research will review redress schemes established in other countries (most notably Canada and Ireland) with a view to developing better and more appropriate legal responses to widespread contemporary harms.Read moreRead less
England's obedient servant? The history of Australian tort law, 1901-1945. Did Australian courts develop an Australian law of tort between federation and the Second World War despite the confines of being bound formally or informally by English precedent? Australian courts may have been more creative and independent and less subservient to England than previously thought.