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'Judging pictures: a case study of portraits of the Chief Justices Supreme Court New South Wales'

Presented by: Prof Leslie Moran (School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London)

Short biography:

Leslie Moran LL.B., M.A. (Socio-Legal Studies) (Sheff), PhD (Lancaster) Solicitor, is a Professor of Law at School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London.  He was Head of the Law School from 2002 to 2005. He has been visiting fellow in the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney; Stetson University, Florida; University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia; Fisher Centre for the Study of Men and Women, Dept of Political Science, Hobart and William Smith College, Geneva, N.Y.; Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; Departments of Criminology at Melbourne and Toronto Universities and a research fellow in the Institute of Women's Studies, Lancaster University. He has been involved in various community and professional organisations. He has been Chairman and a member of the management committee of GALOP an LGBT anti-violence charity. He was also a member of the LGBT Advisory Group of the Metropolitan Police. At present he is a member of the Law Society's Equality and Diversity Committee of the Law Society.

Abstract:

This essay is about portraits: judicial portraits. It offers a case study of the interface between law and visual culture. Its object of inquiry is a collection of pictures (painted and photographic), depicting the 16 Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia, from 1824 to the present day. The original paintings hang in the Banco Court, Sydney. The photographs and digital copies of all the images are on the Court's web site. Beginning with a brief review of socio-legal scholarship on the judiciary the essay explores existing work on the visual image of the judge. In response to the limitations of that research, the paper turns to art historical scholarship to facilitate an analysis of the aesthetic and technological factors (the continuities and changes) that shape and generate the meaning of these judicial images. It explores the relevance of context upon meaning. The paper demonstrates a number of methodological approaches and reflects upon the contribution that a study of judicial pictures may make to socio-legal scholarship.

All welcome. Sandwiches and juice will be provided

Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Room: 67.202 (Moot Court)
Time: 12.30-13.30

For further information contact:

Dr Nadirsyah Hosen
Lecturer
Faculty of Law
University of Wollongong
NSW Australia
Email: hosen@uow.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 4221 4192
Fax: +61 2 4221 3188