Australia Day Announcements – Honours Awardee and Essay Competition winners:
The Society congratulates all people who received Australia Day Honours, particularly those who have had careers in the Law. Of particular note is the Award to long term, distinguished legal Historian, Dr John Bennett (AO). His citation reads:
OFFICER (AO) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA
Dr John Michael BENNETT AM, NSW For distinguished service to the law through prolific authorship of biographies of eminent members of the legal profession.
Publications
- Author or Editor of over 30 publications based on rigorous research locally and overseas concerning Australia’s legal history.
- A current series of 17 biographies (2000-2019) uniquely examines the lives of Australia’s 19th Century Chief Justices and their influence on the law, courts and their institutions.
Professional Affiliations
- Fellow, Australian Academy of Law, current.
- Churchill Fellowship, 2000.
Honorary Life Member, New South Wales Bar Association, since 2006. Awards and recognition includes:
- Doctor of Laws, 1990 and Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Sydney.
- Doctor of Letters, Australian National University, 2007.
- New South Wales History Fellowship, State Library of New South Wales, 2006.
- Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, 2005.
ALSO Essay Competition Winners
Today we are happy to announce the winners of our annual Essay competition.
The winners are:
Junior Secondary category: Annette Kim, Tara Anglican School for Girls, for an essay considering Australia’s prison system.
Senior Secondary category: Rohan Hodges, Camberwell Grammar School, for an essay titled, “The Tasmanian Dams Case: To what extent has it influenced Australia’s environmental management? Was the dramatic response to the High Court’s decision justified?”
Tertiary category: Joseph Chigwidden, University of New South Wales, for an essay titled, “How did the benefit of clergy operate to mitigate the rigours of the criminal law? What was the status of the doctrine in colonial New South Wales prior to its formal abolition?”.
Well done to these students for their effort and interest!!!.
2019 was a very productive year for the Society. Many thanks to all our presenters and the many members and guests who attended our lectures, presentations and other functions.
Our last events were in November and included:
A lecture co-sponsored by the Forbes Society and the Selden Society, was presented by the Hon John Bryson QC titled “Henry VIII’s Will and the Politics of Succession” on Wednesday 6 November 2019, which was very well attended, with nearly 100 people in Banco Court to hear the analysis of the circumstances and implications of Henry VIII’s Will.
The lecture was introduced by Justice Lucy McCallum of the NSW Court of Appeal.
Plunkett Lecture
The 2019 Plunkett lecture was delivered by Professor Wilfrid Prest on Wednesday, 13 November 2019 at 5:15pm in Banco Court. Level 13 Law Courts Building, Queens Square, 184 Phillip Street, Sydney In keeping with the theme of previous Plunkett lectures, Professor Prest spoke about the office of attorney-general in the 18th century, with particular reference to Sir Dudley Ryder (1691-1756), the second-longest serving holder of that office.
We are grateful to the Chief Justice for making Banco Court available for both lectures.
2019 Annual General Meeting
The 2019 Forbes Society AGM was held on Tuesday 19 November 2019 in the Federal Court Conference Room 18.47, Level 18, 184 Phillip Street, Sydney.
Click on the following tabs for documents related to the AGM: Notice of AGM 2019; FFS Council nomination form 2019; Minutes of AGM – 14.11.2018; FFS proxy form 2019; Circular resolution 30 October 2019; 2019 Society & Fund Financial Report; Management Representation letter – 30 Oct 2019
Book Launch:
Launch of Sir Frederick Jordan: Fire under the frost, by the Hon Keith Mason AC QC – Tuesday 26 November 2019
The Federation Press cordially invited Forbes members to the launch of Sir Frederick Jordan: Fire under the frost, by the Hon Keith Mason AC QC. The book was launched by the Hon Justice Stephen Gageler AC in Banco Court.
Forbes members may recall the lecture delivered by the Hon Keith Mason on 10 October 2017, titled “Sir Frederick Jordan’s brushes with ‘degenerate art’”.
OUR LATEST SEMINAR –
History of the Legal Profession in NSW, was on Thursday 19 September 2019. We are very grateful to the Chief Justice, the Hon T F Bathurst AC, for presenting this seminar in Banco Court.
DON’T FORGET!!!
Time to Renew Subscriptions Please,
Subscription Renewal Covering Letter: FFS Membership Cover Letter 19-20
Subscription Renewal Form: FFS Membership application – renewal 19-20
Have you considered donating to the Society?
The Society welcomes donations to support research activities, such as that outlined in the Current Research Page of this Website. Anyone wishing to donate should download the following form: Forbes Fund Donation Form
Acknowledgement:
We are very grateful to Professor Anne Twomey who delivered the 2019 Forbes Lecture on Wednesday 5 June 2019 . Further details are in the Forbes Lecture Page of the website.
ALSO.
Latest edition of the Forbes Flyer prepared by David Ash is available now:
Click on: Forbes Flyer No 40 (Spring 2019)
The flyer includes an index of articles since its inception.
Recent Publications of Note:
The Constitution and Government
of Australia, 1788 to 1919
By William Pitt Cobbett Edited by Anne Twomey
Between 1910 and 1919, William Pitt Cobett, former Professor of Law and Dean of the Sydney Law School, wrote what would become his great opus on the Constitution and Government of Australia but the manuscript was never published. Its publication
had been frustrated in the period following his death by the High Court’s judgment in the Engineers Case in 1920 and the new constitutional order it created.
A century later, Professor Anne Twomey, has edited Cobbett’s original manuscript, taking care to
preserve the integrity of his work.
The Federation Press, with the support of the Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History, will publish this important historical work which provides a detailed perspective of how the Constitution operated in
the first two decades after Federation.
Click on the following for further details: eCard_The Constitution and Government of Australia
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Free Hands and Minds
Pioneering Australian Legal Scholars
Susan Bartie
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.
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.
Susan Bartie is Lecturer in Law at the University of Tasmania, Australia.
344pp | Hardback |
Discount Price: £56
Order online at www.hartpublishing.co.uk – use the code CV7 at the checkout to get 20% off your order!
ALSO
The result of a long term research project by Malcolm Oakes SC is now available. It is a List of non-practice published works by members of the New South Wales Bar. This is a fascinating account of the many contributions to Australian social and literary life made by barristers. It is well worth a look at the following link: List of non-practice published works by members of the NSW bar
The list is alphabetical by author and includes man well known barristers, including CEW Bean, HV Evatt, Ian Barker QC and many others.
RESULTS of the 2018 Essay Competition are available on the Essay Competition page of the Website. Prospective essayists are encouraged to begin researching possible topics for 2019!!!
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