The last outlaw: Making a nation from the crimes of Jimmy Governor. This project aims to produce a legal history of the murderer Jimmy Governor to discover the extent to which law-making was generated by acts of law-breaking. The Australian Federation laid the foundations for the nation’s legal institutions under the rule of law. The Aboriginal serial killer, Jimmy Governor, was outlawed and convicted on the threshold of Federation, in 1900. Through Governor’s legal history, the project will pro ....The last outlaw: Making a nation from the crimes of Jimmy Governor. This project aims to produce a legal history of the murderer Jimmy Governor to discover the extent to which law-making was generated by acts of law-breaking. The Australian Federation laid the foundations for the nation’s legal institutions under the rule of law. The Aboriginal serial killer, Jimmy Governor, was outlawed and convicted on the threshold of Federation, in 1900. Through Governor’s legal history, the project will produce an account of the law and its outsiders at an important historical moment. This project expects to provide knowledge about punishment, surveillance and imprisonment in the emerging nation, and a history of the rules of evidence and criminal procedure.Read moreRead less
The foundations of civil justice in Australia. This project aims to provide an in-depth historical account of the origins of our civil justice system in Australia. Judicial institutions and their practices were key to the founding of civil society in the Australian colonies. This project will produce new knowledge about the origins of our civil justice system. The project will trace legal reformist ideas in England, their dissemination across Britain's Empire and the impact these had on how judg ....The foundations of civil justice in Australia. This project aims to provide an in-depth historical account of the origins of our civil justice system in Australia. Judicial institutions and their practices were key to the founding of civil society in the Australian colonies. This project will produce new knowledge about the origins of our civil justice system. The project will trace legal reformist ideas in England, their dissemination across Britain's Empire and the impact these had on how judges and administrators in the Australian colonies crafted their judicial practices to provide speedy and effective access to civil justice. As well as scholarly writing, this project will provide a podcast and multi-media website that explains how civil trials worked in the mid-nineteenth century.Read moreRead less
Benefiting from injustice. This project argues that people can acquire duties to compensate victims of injustice when they benefit from these injustices, even when they neither caused the injustices nor could have prevented them. We explore the implications of this argument for the treatment of colonised peoples, and for policies on climate change and international trade.
Australian violence: understanding victimisation through history. This project aims to undertake the first national study to investigate longitudinal trends in the history of interpersonal violence in Australia. Interpersonal violence is a major national challenge and violence prevention is a policy concern. By analysing case-level data for ten thousand criminal prosecutions over modern Australian history, the project will assess long-term trends in violent events and their relation to historica ....Australian violence: understanding victimisation through history. This project aims to undertake the first national study to investigate longitudinal trends in the history of interpersonal violence in Australia. Interpersonal violence is a major national challenge and violence prevention is a policy concern. By analysing case-level data for ten thousand criminal prosecutions over modern Australian history, the project will assess long-term trends in violent events and their relation to historical change. Tracking the rise and fall of prosecuted violence, the project will test current scholarly understanding about the history of violence, yield new insights about historical victimisation, and provide a critical background for understanding contemporary violence.Read moreRead less
The sight of justice: images and the rule of law. The rule of law is a key issue in global and national governance, which this project will study in a novel way: through the images and art that have helped us make sense of it. This will give new insights into its history, evolution and current challenges, and new ways of encouraging public understanding and engagement with the law.
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL130100050
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,073,424.00
Summary
What counts? Prosecution and the criminal trial in Australian history. This project will investigate the successes, failures and limits of the criminal trial in Australia, from the colonial era to the post-war decades. By using the rich resource of Australian archives, this project will provide an enduring foundational knowledge of Australian criminal justice in its historical and international context.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100115
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$180,000.00
Summary
Confocal microscope for high-resolution microtopographic analysis of surfaces in historical, forensic and polymer sciences. High-resolution analyses of microscopic patterns on surfaces using confocal microscopy can provide vital clues into the nature of ancient diets and environments, adaptive evolution, weapons used in crimes, and properties of polymers. This instrument will heighten Australia’s capacity for world-leading research in areas of major national importance.
The potential and limits of international adjudication. This project aims to analyse the place of adjudication in international affairs, using a case study of Australia’s extensive engagement with the International Court of Justice. The project will provide a detailed account of the context and impact of the cases in which Australia has been involved before the Court, and will assess the complex roles that adjudication and advisory opinions can play in the resolution of international disputes mo ....The potential and limits of international adjudication. This project aims to analyse the place of adjudication in international affairs, using a case study of Australia’s extensive engagement with the International Court of Justice. The project will provide a detailed account of the context and impact of the cases in which Australia has been involved before the Court, and will assess the complex roles that adjudication and advisory opinions can play in the resolution of international disputes more generally. This project will document an historic set of engagements spanning 70 years and provide guidance on when international adjudication may be productive for Australia, the Asia-Pacific region and the international legal order. This will provide deeper knowledge of the capacities of international judicial institutions to resolve disputes relating to economic, health, social, cultural and environmental issues.Read moreRead less
A new history of law in post-revolutionary England (c.1689-1760). This project seeks to recover and reassess the general history of English law during the seven decades following the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, when limited monarchy, parliamentary government and the rule of law became new constitutional norms for an emergent imperial British state (and, eventually, for Australia). It aims to chart the modes of law and governance variously experienced, created and used by lay men and women, h ....A new history of law in post-revolutionary England (c.1689-1760). This project seeks to recover and reassess the general history of English law during the seven decades following the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, when limited monarchy, parliamentary government and the rule of law became new constitutional norms for an emergent imperial British state (and, eventually, for Australia). It aims to chart the modes of law and governance variously experienced, created and used by lay men and women, husbands, wives and children, as well as by judges, lawyers, legislators and ministers. The results of this conceptual investigation, which aims to re-interpret the history of English law and government in the broadest possible way, is planned to appear as Volume IX in the Oxford History of the Laws of England series.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100801
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$382,248.00
Summary
Boys and sexual abuse: rethinking victim and offender categories. Histories of child sexual abuse often ignore boys. This project investigates the socio-legal processes that designate boys as sexual victims, sexual offenders and sexual agents; it explores how boys occupy multiple categories or slip between them. It uses legal and cultural evidence in Australia and the United Kingdom between 1870 and 1930 to rethink the formation of victim and offender categories. Comparing policy and practice ac ....Boys and sexual abuse: rethinking victim and offender categories. Histories of child sexual abuse often ignore boys. This project investigates the socio-legal processes that designate boys as sexual victims, sexual offenders and sexual agents; it explores how boys occupy multiple categories or slip between them. It uses legal and cultural evidence in Australia and the United Kingdom between 1870 and 1930 to rethink the formation of victim and offender categories. Comparing policy and practice across jurisdictions can reveal how frameworks of knowledge magnify and erase certain crimes and the people who perpetrate them. These findings will refine our understanding of what child sexual abuse is, who it affects and how we might adjust our modern forms of policing and intervention to deal with it. Read moreRead less