The Use of Indigenous Sentencing Courts in Australia: Processes, Protocols and Outcomes
Dr Elena Marchetti - (BCom, LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD)
Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School , Griffith University
Wednesday, 11 October 2006 12.30 - 1.30pm Room 67.202 (Moot Court)
Faculty of Law, Bldg. 67, University of Wollongong
All are welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided .
Dr Marchetti is a Senior Lecturer at Griffith University 's Law School in Brisbane , and has previously taught at that University's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her recently completed PhD thesis was the topic 'Missing Subjects: Women and Gender in the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody'. Her research interests focus on access to justice for minority groups, Indigenous and feminist critiques of criminal justice processes, and legal education.
Dr Marchetti's seminar will consider the Indigenous sentencing courts that have been established in Australia over the past seven years. These courts use Indigenous community representatives to talk to a defendant about their offending and to assist with determining the punishment to be imposed (sometimes referred to as "circle sentencing"). The courts have emerged to reduce the over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system, as well as to address other problems faced by Indigenous people in their interactions with this system. The Seminar will discuss the variations in practice and procedure among the different Indigenous sentencing courts, the common goals and jurisprudential underpinnings of the courts, and an overview of their main benefits. Evidence will be presented that suggests that the courts may have many benefits beyond simply reducing re-offending.
Legal Truth and Historical Truth in the War on Terrorism: The Example of the Philippines
Dr Peter Sales - Senior Lecturer, History and Politics, University of Wollongong
Wednesday, 4 October 2006 12.30 - 1.30pm Room 67.208, Faculty of Law, Bldg. 67, University of Wollongong
All are welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided .
Dr Sales is a Senior Lecturer In History and Politics at the University of Wollongong . He received his MA from Monash University and his PhD from La Trobe University, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Washington DC during 1981. Dr Sales was also recently a Research Associate of the University of the Philippines in Manila , and his research interests include the history of US foreign policy, insurgency and counterinsurgency, and issues of war and peace in the Philippines and Cambodia . Peter's seminar will examine the peculiar difficulties faced by the Philippines ' legal system and consider the extent to which these contribute to or harm efforts at confronting terrorism.
Ethical issues in interdisciplinary legal research
Prof. Colin Thompson Chair, Australian Health Ethics Committee
Professor, UoW
Prof. Mark Israel Ass. Dean (Research) Flinders University School of Law
Prof. Susan Dodds Chair, UoW Ethics Committee
Professor, UoW
Wednesday, 20 September 12.30 - 3.30
Faculty of Law
McKinnon Building , 67.202 (Moot Court Room)
All welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided.
The program will begin with short presentations from three of the leaders in the field of research ethics and law from across Australia . Participants will then be invited to put forward experiences, proposals or hypothetical issues for round table discussion.
The presenters:
Professor Colin Thomson , Chair of the Australian Health Ethics Committee and Professor, UoW
Professor Mark Israel , Associate Dean (Research), Flinders University School of Law. A uthor of Ethics and the Governance of Criminological Research in Australia (NSW Government, 2004), co-author of Research Ethics for Social Scientists: Between Ethical Conduct and Regulatory Compliance (Sage, 2006) and South African Political Exile in the United Kingdom (1999).
Professor Susan Dodds , Chair of the UoW Ethics Committee. Co-author of Linking Visions: Feminist Bioethics, Human Rights and the Developing World (2004) and Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Grant (2005-2009) Big-Picture Bioethics: policy-making in liberal democracy .
Active researchers, higher degree research students and supervisors from law or from related social sciences or humanities are particularly encouraged to attend and participate.
The Way We Were - History and 'the people' of the Constitution - Elisa Arcioni - Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong
Wednesday, 23 August 12.30 - 1.30
Faculty of Law - McKinnon Building, 67.202 (Moot Court Room)
All welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided.
The Preamble to the Australian Constitution begins : "Whereas the people … have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth ". That is followed by a number of references throughout the constitutional text to "the people". Who were these people at federation and how does that affect who "the people" are today?
The relevance and use of history in understanding the Constitution is contested. However, it seems clear that some reference to historical material is legitimate, even if the range of materials and their influence on current meaning is open for debate. An outline will be given of what the historical materials reveal about the identity of "the people" at Federation: who is included, who is excluded and what factors affect the historical understanding of the phrase. But where does the history take us? To what extent do the "dead hands of the past" constrain the current meaning of "the people"?
Elisa Arcioni is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Wollongong and one of the Law Faculty's most successful graduates. After completing her BA and LLB (Hons) at the University of Wollongong , she held the prestigious position of Associate to Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia. Elisa's prodigious research output focuses on constitutional law and she is currently working on her PhD with the Australian National University, which explores the constitution (so to speak) of "the people" in the Australian Constitution. This LIRC seminar is a "work in progress" related to this thesis.
The Legal Intersections Research Centre invites you to a workshop on
Ethical issues in interdisciplinary legal research .
Time: 12.30 - 3.30, 20 September 2006.
Place: Moot Court, level 2, McKinnon Building , University of Wollongong
The program will begin with short presentations from three of the leaders in the field of research ethics and law from across Australia . Participants will then be invited to put forward experiences, proposals or hypothetical issues for round table discussion.
Professor Colin Thomson, Chair of the Australian Health Ethics Committee and Professor, UoW
Professor Mark Israel, Associate Dean (Research), Flinders University School of Law A uthor of Ethics and the Governance of Criminological Research in Australia (NSW Government, 2004), co-author of Research Ethics for Social Scientists: Between Ethical Conduct and Regulatory Compliance (Sage, 2006) and South African Political Exile in the United Kingdom (1999).
Professor Susan Dodds, Chair of the UoW Ethics Committee. Co-author of Linking Visions: Feminist Bioethics, Human Rights and the Developing World (2004) and Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Grant (2005-2009) " Big-Picture Bioethics: policy-making in liberal democracy " A light lunch will accompany the opening presentations.
Active researchers, higher degree research students and supervisors from law or from related social sciences or humanities are particularly encouraged to attend and participate.
For more information, and to register interest in having a particular issue discussed, please contact
Dr Rick Mohr
Co-Director, LIRC
Director of Postgraduate Programs rmohr@uow.edu.au +61 (0)2 4221 4632
Native Title, The High Court and Legal Theory : Analysing the High Court's Use of Theory in the Yorta Yorta decision
Ian Farrell Lecturer, Faculty of Law
University of Wollongong
Wednesday, 9 August 12.30 - 1.30
Faculty of Law, McKinnon Building , 67.202 (Moot Court Room)
All welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided.
In 2002, the High Court denied a claim of native title in relation to lands and waters associated with the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal community. The decision is notable, among other things, for the prominent role of legal philosophy and other theoretical issues in the Court's reasoning. This Seminar describes the Court's reasoning in the Yorta Yorta case and analyses the Court's use of legal theoretical concepts. I shall argue that the Court's ultimate conclusion - denying the Yorta Yorta community native title - rests upon a particular (theoretical) view of the relationship between law and society. I shall argue that the Court's view of this relationship is at best contestable and unsupported in the judgment and, at worst, implausibly narrow.
Ian Farrell is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Wollongong as well as a graduate of Wollongong University , having completed a BMath and LLB here before attending Harvard Law School on a Fulbright Scholarship. Ian also completed a Masters in Philosophy with the University of Texas Law and Philosophy Program, and his main areas of research include legal theory, constitutional law and moral philosophy.
The Development of New China's Constitutional Law Associate Professor Alice Meng
Beijing Management College of Politics and Law
University of Wollongong
Thursday May 25 12.30 - 1.30
Faculty of Law
McKinnon Building , 67.208
All welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided.
Chinese constitutional law has undergone significant changes over the last 50 years, with four different Constitutional regimes since 1954 the current unprecedented economic boom presents new challenges to China 's Constitutional system. The seminar will give an introductory and comparative perspective on China 's different Constitutions, with a focus on several issues under the most recent Constitution, such as the meaning of socialism and human rights in China .
Alice Meng is Associate Professor of law at the Beijing Management College of Politics and Law. She received her Masters of Law from the China University of Politics and Law in 1992, and has been a visiting academic with the Law Faculty of the University of Technology , Sydney , and Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory . Her areas of research include torts, intellectual property rights, HIV/AIDS and the law, and human rights.
The Beijing Management College of Politics and Law includes the Center for the Prevention Transnational Crimes, Beijing in co-operation with UOW's own Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention.
Flesh, Identity and the Legal Person
Dr Rick Mohr Faculty of Law
University of Wollongong
Wednesday May 24 12.30 - 1.30
Moot Court (67.202)
All welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided.
Legal personhood must be the same one who is held accountable now.
Legal administration guarantees that continuity through physical features and permanent records. Data such as height or date of birth, as well as physical traces such as fingerprints and signatures are collected. By essentialising identity according to physical identity, and by freezing identity in time, legal personhood suppresses specific elements of what it is to be human.
The attribution of legal identity guaranteed by persistent physical features denies changes wrought through experience and the body. The legal implications of this denial may be seen in the areas of identity politics or judicial interpretation.
Dr Mohr is Co-Director of the Legal Intersections Research Centre. The topic arises out of a 2005 sabbatical project and a course taught in the Law Faculty of McGill University during that period. An updated version of that course is to be offered at the University of Wollongong in second session 2006.
Seminar and Wine-Tasting Special Event
Putting Truth into Wine:
The Dispute over the Boundary of the Coonawarra Wine Region
Dr Gary Edmond
Faculty of Law
University of New South Wales
The seminar will discuss the long-running dispute over the geographical boundary of the Coonawarra region, and consequently which wines can be labelled as Coonawarra wines. Given the content of the seminar, we thought it appropriate to incorporate a wine-tasting. Samples of wines from within and without the Coonawarra region will be sampled.
Dr Gary Edmond is a Senior Lecturer with the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales. He graduated from the University of Wollongong, winning the University Medal upon completion of his BA (Hons), before completing his LLB (Hons) at Sydney University and his PhD at Cambridge University. Dr Edmond interests and expertise are wide-ranging: he has published on law and science, expert evidence, and the public understanding of science in journals dedicated to law, sociology, and science studies. Although his research interests are primarily focused on the evidentiary and procedural dimensions of mass torts and miscarriages of justice, his recent research has involved a critical reassessment of literature on the public understanding of law, anthropological and historical evidence in native title claims and comparisons between legal, sociological, and ethnomethodological approaches to the cross-examination of experts. He is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society, the Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science and the Society for the Social Study of Science (US).
An Evidence-Based Case for Reforming Australia 's Schools
Dr Andrew Leigh Research School of Social Sciences
Australian National University
Tuesday, 2nd May 2006
Moot Court (67.202)
All welcome - sandwiches and juice provided
Troubling new evidence shows that since the 1970s, literacy and numeracy scores in Australian schools have fallen. Yet over the same period, per-pupil spending has more than doubled. What accounts for this apparent decline in school productivity? In this seminar, Dr Leigh discusses some possible explanations and outlines several potential reforms that might help improve the performance of Australian schools. Dr Leigh is an economist in the Research School of Social Science at the Australian National University . His current research is in the fields of labour economics, public finance and political economy. Dr Leigh's impressive pedigree encompasses law and politics as well as economics. In addition to his MPA and PhD from Harvard University, he has a BA (Hons) and LLB(Hons) from the University of Sydney, has worked in leading Australian and British law firms, and worked as a researcher and advisor for the British Labour Party, the Australian Labor and the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington, DC. Dr Leigh also worked as an Associate to Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia - a position , incidentally, which two members of the University of Wollongong have also had the privilege of sharing (namely Elisa Arcioni and James Goudkamp). The Legal Intersections Research Council is honoured to have Dr Leigh involved in our 2006 seminar series.
Thirroul of Law: DH Lawrence and Contemporary Issues in Law and Philosophy
Professor Desmond Manderson
Faculty of Law
McGill University
Montreal, Canada
All welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided.
The seminar will pursue questions of justice and decision in contemporary legal theory. In particular, Professor Manderson will consider the differences and distinctions between philosophies of justice and responsibility - an issue which is becoming increasingly important (and disputed) in critical legal studies. The seminar will be structured around a review of Roger Berkowitz's recent 'The Gift of Science' and a parallel reading of D.H. Lawrence's 'Kangaroo' (hence the pun on 'Thirroul of Law' in the title, for those of you who aren't paying attention!)
Professor Manderson holds the prestigious Canada Research Chair in Law and Discourse in the Faculty of Law at McGill University . Prior to this appointment, Professor Manderson was the foundation Director of the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence at the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney . He is the author and editor of numerous works, the most recent of which include the edited collection 'Legal Spaces' (2005) and 'Proximity, Levinas and the Soul of Law' (2006). Prof. Manderson's research and teaching cover a wide range of interests and disciplines, including aesthetics, torts, drug policy and history, ethics, legal education and, of course, jurisprudence. This broad interdisciplinary expertise makes Prof. Manderson and ideal speaker for the LIRC series, and we are honoured to host him on this return to Australia.
Tribal Sovereignty under the Roberts Court: The effect of Chief Justice Roberts' appointment on Tribal Sovereignty in the United States
Professor Bruce Duthu - Vermont Law School - Visiting Fellow - Faculty of Law - UOW
Wednesday 29 March 2006
12.30 pm - 1.30 pm
Moot Court (67.202)
In September 2005, President Bush nominated John G. Roberts Jr to be Chief Justice of the Unites States Supreme Court. He replaced Chief Justice Rehnquist, who had led the Court since 1986. This paper will consider the effect of the Roberts appointment on tribal sovereignty and First Nations law in the United States. The paper will include an introduction into the operation of the U.S. courts, and an examination of the Roberts "paper trail" - including his opinions as an Appeals Court judge and recent Supreme Court decisions - in order to suggest the likely path of tribal sovereignty and related law under a Roberts-led court.
Professor Duthu is a Professor of Law at Vermont Law School and a world-renowned scholar of Native American issues. He earned his degree in religion and Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law. He is an Adjunct Professor with Dartmouth's Native American Studies Program, has been a Visiting Fellow at institutions including Harvard Law School, the University of Wollongong and the University of Trento, Italy, and consults with Native American tribes, government bodies and academic institutions on legal issues affecting Native Americans.
All welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided.
Corporate Governance in Japan and Germany Dr Harald Baum
Max Planck Institute, Hamburg
LIRC and that Comparative Law Centre are privileged to present Dr. Harald Baum, Germany's foremost expert in Japanese law. Dr Baum is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Japan Department at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law in Hamburg, as well as Founding and Executive Editor of the Journal of Japanese Law and Research Associate with the European Corporate Governance Institute, Brussels.
All Welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided.
