Table of Contents

Abbreviations viii

Preface ix

Introduction: English flotsam xi

PART I FRONTIER LAW 1

1 Aboriginal subjects of the Crown - 3

2 The contradictions of convict law - 22

3 Amateur law at the frontier - 43

PART II IMPERIAL ORTHODOXY, 1820-1900 65

4 Innovation smothered? Formal changes from the 1820s to the 1850s - 67

5 The power of the judges: judicial review and the attachment to England - 82

6 Repugnant legislation: law making from 1824 to responsible government - 103

7 Colonial freedom: law making between responsible government and 1900 - 124

PART III FEDERATION: DEFERENCE AND INDEPENDENCE 155

8 Creeping towards legal independence, 1901-1960 - 157

9 The rebirth of Australian legal doctrine, 1960-1995 - 177

Notes and sources 206

Index 243

About the Author

Bruce Kercher is Associate Professor of Law at Macquarie University and has published widely in the history of Australian law.