Law courts are the central institutions addressing social aspirations for justice. This special inaugural issue of the Journal of Social Change and Critical Inquiry (JoSCCI) examines the ways in which courts, justice and the law are represented in built form, art and the media. The papers and illustrations in this edition analyse, critique and describe new approaches to representing justice.

In Representations of Justice, Part One of a two part photo essay, Chief Justice Michael Black introduces JoSCCI and our theme of the significance of the architecture of courts. In Part Two, Paul Katsieris, speaks of spirit, purity, weight and gravity as he guides us through the philosophy his company applied in Design of the Commonwealth Law Courts Building, Melbourne (click picture right).

Articles

Barbara Nicholson's Law Sites Revisited: Looking at Differences looks at the different landscapes of Western and Aboriginal law (click picture left).

Professor John Brigham examines the courtroom as a place of theatre as Foucault meets LA Law in Architectures of Justice: The Private and the Privatized.

In Between Power and Procedure: Where the Court Meets the Public Sphere, Dr Richard Mohr, explores the implications of the courts’ fixed place and its borders with the world outside its walls.

In Boundaries and Barriers: The Social Production of Space in Magistrates’ Courts and Guardianship Tribunals Dr David Tait considers how courts and tribunals manage their ritual practices by organising space.

Book Reviews

EDIFICE LEX! - SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT ON COURTS