From time to time the Society convenes for its members and friends a “Legal History Discussion Group” meeting in the premises of the NSW Bar Association.  These meetings (held in the evening, commencing at 5.30pm and concluding no later than 7.00pm) provide a forum in which people interested in legal history can learn of recent developments, present papers and exchange ideas.

The Group has met twice during the past year, and it plans to hold its third meeting for the year at the conclusion of this year’s Annual General Meeting of the Forbes Society on Tuesday 20 November 2012.

On 29 August 2012 Philip Selth OAM, the Honorary Executive Director of the Forbes Society and Executive Director of the NSW Bar Association, spoke about the career of Eric Miller QC (1903-1986) and Miller’s appearance in defence of his cousin, PNG Captain John Joseph (“Mangrove”) Murphy (1914-1997) at the latter’s trial by court-martial for allegedly having given information to the Japanese while he was a prisoner of war.  Murphy, a former PNG Patrol Officer and Coastwatcher on New Britain, was honourably acquitted of all charges, but not everyone accepts the court-martial verdict.

The Select Cases 1828-1863 Project, undertaken by the Forbes Society in conjunction with Macquarie University, through ongoing work of Brent Salter and Emeritus Professor Bruce Kercher in consultation with Dr Lisa Ford, has advanced to a stage where, subject to funding, the Society can proceed to publication.  The Society hopes to be able to move, in 2013, towards publication of two volumes following upon Kercher and Salter (eds), The Kercher Reports: Decisions of the New South Wales Superior Courts, 1788 to 1827 (Forbes Society, 2009/2010).