If you can see through the illusion, you are part of the solution
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The decision in Gibbons v Wright remains a cornerstone of Australian law on contractual capacity. The High Court rejected the notion that legal capacity is a fixed, binary state and instead articulated what has become known as the “relative capacity” principle. As explained by Owen Dixon, a person’s ability to enter into a legal transaction Read More …
A review by the New South Wales Ombudsman has highlighted an important but often overlooked obligation of police officers: when exercising certain powers under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (LEPRA), officers are legally required to provide their name and place of duty. The Ombudsman report below, “Did police provide their name and Read More …
Every five minutes in Australia’s electricity market, prices are recalculated. Power generators submit bids. Supply and demand are matched. Increasingly, this process is shaped not just by human traders but by algorithms. In its 2021 article in the UNSW Law Journal, “Algorithmic Collusion and Australian Competition Law” explores how pricing software and artificial intelligence are Read More …
Breaking News! The Federal Court today struck down the six month police search powers should be a wake up call, not just for police, but for the politicians who enabled them. The Parliament of Victoria, in enacting laws that allowed such sweeping powers, crossed a line from governance into human rights abuse. The Read More …
Constitution Watch has received many enquiries about the reservation of Bills. This little known process is often misunderstood, leading to guesswork. Below, we examine the reservation process in sections 58 and 60 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900. Section 58 above provides the mechanism of Royal Assent, the Governor General when Read More …
The modern law of judicial review has spent decades insisting on a simple proposition: certiorari and appeal perform different constitutional functions. Yet applications continue to fail because that distinction is overlooked or deliberately blurred by litigants seeking a more favourable pathway to relief. Since Craig v South Australia, the High Court has drawn a firm line Read More …
This story is dedicated to the People of Norfolk Island in their struggle of Self Determination against outside forces. On 1 January 2026, the people of Norfolk Island exercised what they assert is their inherent right to responsible government, marking a significant moment in a long and contested political struggle. For many islanders, this election Read More …
The Fiction of Authority For centuries, the concept of sovereignty has stood as a foundational principle of political thought and legal order. It is the idea that a state or governing authority possesses the ultimate, unquestioned power over its territory and the people within it. But beneath this veneer of authority lies a profound question: Read More …
In the intricate landscape of Australian constitutional law, the principles established in the 1996 High Court case of Kable v Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) stand as a cornerstone for safeguarding judicial independence within the states. An article from the Melbourne University Law Review sheds new light on these principles, exploring their ongoing relevance and Read More …
False arrest, or wrongful arrest, occurs when a person is taken into custody without probable cause or without following proper legal procedures. It happens when police lack reasonable grounds to suspect a person has committed an offence and can be a result of mistaken identity, a mere hunch, or an administrative error. In many jurisdictions, Read More …