Great Australian Dissents

Description

When judges disagree, those in the minority write a dissenting opinion. This book considers the great dissents in Australian law. Their worth may derive from numerous factors, including their rhetorical force as a piece of legal reasoning or emotive power as a judicial lament for the 'error' into which the majority has fallen; the general importance of the issue at stake; as a challenge to the orthodoxy; and, sometimes, the subsequent recognition of a dissenting opinion's correctness and its ultimate vindication. On some occasions, all these features may be strongly present, on others only some. Through a diverse selection of memorable dissenting opinions, this book illuminates the topic of judicial disagreement more generally - not only through examples of instances when minority opinions have been distinctly valuable, but by drawing out a richer understanding of the attributes and circumstances which lead some dissents to become iconic, while so many lie forgotten.

Andrew Lynch teaches and researches in the field of Australian constitutional law at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales. His co-authored and co-edited publications include Blackshield and Williams' Australian Constitutional Law and Theory (2014), Inside Australia's Terrorism Laws and Trials (2014), Tomorrow's Federation: Reforming Australian Government (2012) and Counter-Terrorism and Beyond: The Culture of Law and Justice after 9/11 (2010).