Free Hands and Minds

Pioneering Australian Legal Scholars
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5099-5197-0
Verlag: Bloomsbury 3PL

Buch, Englisch, 344 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 524 g

Peter Brett (1918-1975), Alice Erh-Soon Tay (1934-2004) and Geoffrey Sawer (1910-1996) are key, yet largely overlooked, members of Australia's first community of legal scholars. This book is a critical study of how their ideas and endeavours contributed to Australia's discipline of law and the first Australian legal theories. It examines how three marginal figures - a Jewish man (Brett), a Chinese woman (Tay), and a war orphan (Sawer) - rose to prominence during a transformative period for Australian legal education and scholarship.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with former colleagues and students, extensive archival research, and an appraisal of their contributions to scholarship and teaching, this book explores the three professors' international networks and broader social and historical milieux. Their pivotal leadership roles in law departments at the University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, and the Australian National University are also critically assessed.

Ranging from local experiences and the concerns of a nascent Australian legal academy to the complex transnational phenomena of legal scholarship and theory, Free Hands and Minds makes a compelling case for contextualising law and legal culture within society. At a time of renewed crisis in legal education and research in the common law world, it also offers a vivid, nuanced and critical account of the enduring liberal foundations of Australia's discipline of law.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bartie, Susan

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Ausländisches Recht Common Law (UK, USA, Australien u.a.)
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsgeschichte, Recht der Antike

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction

History and Legal Education

Brett, Tay and Sawer

Why Brett, Tay and Sawer?

Feminism and Life History

Concluding Remarks

2. Australian Legal Academics: A Short Intellectual History

Introduction

Law Professors and the Case for University Legal Education

Tradition and Change - Founding an Australian Intellectual Tradition
A Period of Change: 1950-2000

Conclusion

PART A
PETER BRETT
3. Brett and the Americanisation of Australian Law Schools

Introduction

Brett and the Melbourne Law School

The Makings of a 'Liberal Humane Scholar'

A Legal Process SJD

Taking Legal Process Seriously

Reception

Concluding Remarks

4. The First Theory for Teaching Australian Criminal Law

Introduction

Brett and Waller

Legal Process in the Australian Classroom

Brett and the Australian Judiciary

Reception

Intellectual and Practical Obstacles

Student Impressions

Fracturing the Teaching Team

Concluding Remarks

5. One of Australia's 'Pillars of Justice'?

Introduction

Orr

Tait, Beamish, Ratten

A Mixed Reception

Concluding Remarks

6. A Professor of Jurisprudence

The Last Professor of Jurisprudence at Melbourne

'The Most Urgent Contemporary Task'

Conclusion - Peter Brett

PART B
ALICE ERH-SOON TAY
7. Morality and the Legal Academy

Introduction

The Makings of an Academic Warrior

An Open Mind - John Anderson

Possession

The Sociological Tradition

The Australian Legal Academy

Concluding Remarks

8. Tay and the Department of Jurisprudence: Reigniting Hostilities

Introduction

Reigniting Decades of Division

Origins of the Division

Tay's Appointment

9. Tay and the Department of Jurisprudence: Stone's Successor

Introduction

Tay's Credentials

Tay and Stone - Different Sociological Traditions

A 'Beachhead' for Jurisprudence

The Antidote

New Protagonists

Concluding Remarks

10. Tay and the Department of Jurisprudence: An Academic Entrepreneur

Introduction

The Rise of an Academic Entrepreneur

Motivating Principles

The Heart of the Department

Concluding Remarks

11. Critic of Australia's Legal Academy

Introduction

Critique of Australian Legal Education and Scholarship

Feminist Legal Scholarship

Conservative or Liberal?

Limiting Tay's Legacy

Conclusion - Alice Erh-Soon Tay

PART C
GEOFFREY SAWER
12. Politics, Law and Society

Introduction

University Life and Politics

Traditional Underpinnings

Concluding Remarks

13. A Case Against Law's Autonomy

Introduction

A Smorgasbord of Legal Theory

Sawer's Constructive Legal Realism

A Response to the Realist Dilemma

Bank Nationalisation

Australian Federal Politics and Law

Strengthening the Doctrine of Precedent

'We're All Socio-Legal Now' (and Always Have Been)

A Middle Ground

Concluding Remarks

14. Sawer and the Research School of Social Sciences

Introduction

Sawer's Appointment to a World-class Australian University

The Department of Law

Early Ambitions

Dean of the RSSS

Entrepreneurial Qualities

Strengthening International Networks

Recruitment

Doctoral Students

Concluding Remarks

15. Sawer and the Future of Australian Academic Law

The Path Not Taken

What Might Have Been

What Occurred

16. Conclusion

Learning Lessons

Lives and Careers

Local Conditions

The Heart of Australian Law Schools

Law Schools and Society

Über Autor(innen)

Bartie, Susan
Susan Bartie is Lecturer in Law at the University of Tasmania, Australia.