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Making children's needs knowable to law. This project addresses the growing concerns that the family law system is not adequately safeguarding children's wellbeing in parenting cases. Its development of an evidence-based framework for decision-making will facilitate the production of outcomes that will better support the wellbeing of families affected by relationship breakdown.
Interpreting Constitutions: A Comparative and Theoretical Study. Constitutional provisions that are ambiguous, vague, or insufficiently explicit must often be interpreted by judges. Should the judges be guided by contemporary values, rather than the original intentions of the founders? That is problematic, because interpretation is then difficult to distinguish from change. Constitutions usually require that they be changed only by some special, democratic procedure. Australian scholars have onl ....Interpreting Constitutions: A Comparative and Theoretical Study. Constitutional provisions that are ambiguous, vague, or insufficiently explicit must often be interpreted by judges. Should the judges be guided by contemporary values, rather than the original intentions of the founders? That is problematic, because interpretation is then difficult to distinguish from change. Constitutions usually require that they be changed only by some special, democratic procedure. Australian scholars have only begun to consider such issues, which have been debated in America for decades. This project will involve a comparison of the methodologies of constitutional interpretation in five different countries, and a theoretical inquiry into the underlying normative and linguistic principles.Read moreRead less
Construing Statutes: The Interaction between a Statute’s Linguistic Content and Principles of Statutory Interpretation. This project aims to identify the factors that determine what legal effect a statutory provision has; what effect it has on the content of the law; in cases where its legal effect is modified by another legal rule or principle. Such cases are commonplace, but the way in which statutory provisions interact with other legal rules or principles is poorly understood. The outcome of ....Construing Statutes: The Interaction between a Statute’s Linguistic Content and Principles of Statutory Interpretation. This project aims to identify the factors that determine what legal effect a statutory provision has; what effect it has on the content of the law; in cases where its legal effect is modified by another legal rule or principle. Such cases are commonplace, but the way in which statutory provisions interact with other legal rules or principles is poorly understood. The outcome of this project will be a general methodology for construing Australian statutes which can resolve problems that existing methodologies cannot. This will provide much-needed guidance to judges, and will advance our understanding of important legal and political issues concerning the effect that statutory provisions have on the content of the law.Read moreRead less
Pushing against globalisation: Understanding how state and non-state actors in socialist transforming East Asia shape global laws and regulations. Improving trade and investment with China and Vietnam is among Australia's foreign affairs and trade priorities. The predictive model will assist Australian policy makers and business investors/exporters to understand how China and Vietnam are likely to deal with transnational treaty obligations such as the World Trade Organisation and bilateral trade ....Pushing against globalisation: Understanding how state and non-state actors in socialist transforming East Asia shape global laws and regulations. Improving trade and investment with China and Vietnam is among Australia's foreign affairs and trade priorities. The predictive model will assist Australian policy makers and business investors/exporters to understand how China and Vietnam are likely to deal with transnational treaty obligations such as the World Trade Organisation and bilateral trade agreements. The project will shed light on domestic resistance to legal globalisation-an inquiry that has been overlooked by existing research. It will also inform important theoretical debates about the role non-state actors play in shaping the regulatory environment in the world's most dynamic economies and improve postgraduate research and teaching programs.Read moreRead less
Fairness and equity for victims of crime: what do victims want, and why don't they get it? The goal of the research is to assist justice and crime victims services agencies to understand their role in relation to crime victims and to develop more effective and responsive ways to meet this important social and justice challenge. The research will contribute to a better understanding how traditional legal and justice processes can be made consistent with victims' needs for procedural fairness and ....Fairness and equity for victims of crime: what do victims want, and why don't they get it? The goal of the research is to assist justice and crime victims services agencies to understand their role in relation to crime victims and to develop more effective and responsive ways to meet this important social and justice challenge. The research will contribute to a better understanding how traditional legal and justice processes can be made consistent with victims' needs for procedural fairness and equity of outcomes. The project will establish a strong theoretical and policy framework for a principled, fair and responsive justice system that is informed by the diverse interests of its constituents and consumers. This research has the support of Victims Support Australasia and in-principle agreement from four member services.Read moreRead less
How just is our criminal justice system? Crime reduction, retribution and their impact on substantive criminal law. The aims of punishment impact dramatically on the substantive criminal law. Although there have been various attempts to develop general theories of criminal responsibility, this is the first study to apply integrated theories of punishment to specific offences, and the analytical structure of the criminal law.
By exploring the tensions between crime reduction and retribution, t ....How just is our criminal justice system? Crime reduction, retribution and their impact on substantive criminal law. The aims of punishment impact dramatically on the substantive criminal law. Although there have been various attempts to develop general theories of criminal responsibility, this is the first study to apply integrated theories of punishment to specific offences, and the analytical structure of the criminal law.
By exploring the tensions between crime reduction and retribution, the project develops a theory of criminalisation; concrete proposals for the reform of core offences, a criminal code and systematic sentencing principles; thereby improving the efficiency, fairness and accountability of the criminal justice system.Read moreRead less
Indigenous leaders: lawful relations from encounter to treaty. This project aims to draw together history, law and the creative arts to recover, make visible and make accessible the continuous traditions of Indigenous people’s leadership in conducting lawful relations in Victoria. The project aims to develop methods of translating these encounters and their insights. The intended outcomes should shape critical deliberations on the future of non-Indigenous Australia’s legal and social relationshi ....Indigenous leaders: lawful relations from encounter to treaty. This project aims to draw together history, law and the creative arts to recover, make visible and make accessible the continuous traditions of Indigenous people’s leadership in conducting lawful relations in Victoria. The project aims to develop methods of translating these encounters and their insights. The intended outcomes should shape critical deliberations on the future of non-Indigenous Australia’s legal and social relationships with its First Peoples, particularly regarding treaty-making.Read moreRead less
A Principled Theory of Legal Interpretation. Law's practical operation depends upon the meanings of statements of law: judges, lawyers and parliamentarians all must frequently grapple with issues of legal interpretation. The development of a principled theory of legal interpretation - which will be the result of this project - is therefore crucial to the practice of law-makers and legal officials. It is also important to the broader community, whose interests are often affected by interpretive d ....A Principled Theory of Legal Interpretation. Law's practical operation depends upon the meanings of statements of law: judges, lawyers and parliamentarians all must frequently grapple with issues of legal interpretation. The development of a principled theory of legal interpretation - which will be the result of this project - is therefore crucial to the practice of law-makers and legal officials. It is also important to the broader community, whose interests are often affected by interpretive decisions made by legal officials. By bringing together a team of Australian and New Zealander philosophers of law with a leading international philosopher of language, this interdisciplinary project will also raise the international profile of Australian legal philosophy.Read moreRead less
Understanding regulatory networks: Assessing the relevance of the 'rule of law' to business regulation in Vietnam. Consistent with Research Priority 4, the project will assist Australian policy makers and business investors/exporters to understand why market laws frequently produce fragmentation and instability in developing East Asia. It will also inform important theoretical debates about the relative influence of law, social norms, ethno-religious orientations and sentiment in forming regulat ....Understanding regulatory networks: Assessing the relevance of the 'rule of law' to business regulation in Vietnam. Consistent with Research Priority 4, the project will assist Australian policy makers and business investors/exporters to understand why market laws frequently produce fragmentation and instability in developing East Asia. It will also inform important theoretical debates about the relative influence of law, social norms, ethno-religious orientations and sentiment in forming regulatory networks that augment and rival state power. The project will strengthen linkages between Australian and Asian universities and research institutions and improve post-graduate research and teaching programs.Read moreRead less
Sharing the Wealth: Tax and Justice in The Slow Growth Era. This project aims to address fundamental problems of injustice in taxation emerging in the transition to a slow growth economy in Australia and globally. The project applies interdisciplinary approaches to generate new knowledge that aims to update frameworks for justice in taxation, refreshing out-dated 20th century ethical and legal approaches. Collaborative legal and philosophy analysis by leading scholars in Australia and the United ....Sharing the Wealth: Tax and Justice in The Slow Growth Era. This project aims to address fundamental problems of injustice in taxation emerging in the transition to a slow growth economy in Australia and globally. The project applies interdisciplinary approaches to generate new knowledge that aims to update frameworks for justice in taxation, refreshing out-dated 20th century ethical and legal approaches. Collaborative legal and philosophy analysis by leading scholars in Australia and the United States will respond to contemporary conditions of slow growth, wage stagnation, wealth inequality, population aging and longevity. Project outcomes will include tax reform proposals to benefit policy makers and enrich public debate on tax justice for 21st century economic and fiscal conditions.Read moreRead less