The 5th edition of Cowen and Zines’s Federal Jurisdiction in Australia incorporates a spate of important developments of the last nine years over most areas of federal jurisdiction. These include decisions in all Australian States concerning the determination of federal matters in State tribunals following Burns v Corbett, the bona fide invocation of jurisdiction in Citta Hobart Pty Ltd v Cawthorn, the requirement of a matter in an appeal in AZC20 v Minister and the nature of federal jurisdiction in the self-governing Territories in Vunilagi v The Queen.
Each of those decisions (and many others) have cited earlier editions of this work, which is widely regarded as authoritative in an area essential to practice as well as to the understanding of the Australian legal system. The current edition continues the approach of examining these developments closely and critically. It also maintains links with United States judgments and literature, including cross-references to the monumental (1820 page) 8th edition of Hart and Wechsler’s The Federal Courts and the Federal System published in January 2025.
Preface
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
1. The Nature, Origin and Significance of Federal Jurisdiction
2. Original Jurisdiction of the High Court
3. Jurisdiction Between Residents of Different States
4. The Federal Courts
5. The Territory Courts and Jurisdiction with Respect to the Territories
6. The Autochthonous Expedient: The Investment of State Courts with Federal Jurisdiction
Index
Reviews of previous editions
The concept of “federal jurisdiction” is one that many of us might prefer to ignore. Yet, we do so at our peril. As Sir Anthony Mason observes in his Foreword (p v):
The very mention of “federal jurisdiction” is enough to strike terror in the hearts and minds of Australian lawyers who do not fully understand its arcane mysteries. The expression conjures up images of constitutional train-wrecks of which Momcilovic v The Queen [(2011) 245 CLR 1] is a spectacular example. As in other cases, no one, including the judges and counsel in the courts below, realised that the jurisdiction exercised in Momcilovic was federal until the case reached the High Court.
Geoffrey Lindell’s masterful fourth edition of Cowen and Zines’s Federal Jurisdiction in Australia is an invaluable tool for those who hope to avert such train-wrecks in the future, and to understand more broadly a concept that pertains to so many important issues in Australian public law. …
The analysis is comprehensive, rigorous and painstaking in its detail, but also clearly written and accessible. It demonstrates an astonishing command of case law, commentary and historical developments. The way in which the book has evolved reveals the prescience of its authors, past and present. Lindell is also careful to point (quite rightly) to aspects of the law that remain uncertain, and provides great insight into how the law may unfold in the future. The golden thread that runs throughout the text is a call for clarity and, wherever possible, fair and efficient solutions to the many problems caused by a dual system of State and federal courts. … it is essential reading for Australian public lawyers.
Lisa Burton Crawford, Australian Journal of Administrative Law, 24, 2018
Cowen and Zines’s The Federal Jurisdiction in Australia updates its predecessor, which was published in 2002. This edition has been updated by Professor Geoffrey Lindell.
Mr Lindell notes that the period since 2002 has continued to highlight the importance of federal jurisdiction with several cases reaching the High Court which were only found to involve such jurisdiction once the cases reached that Court. The text underlines the importance of judges and practitioners being aware that the cases in which they participate may involve such jurisdiction. Indeed, Sir Anthony Mason highlights this in his foreword by citing the ‘constitutional train-wreck’ Momcilovic v The Queen.
Sir Anthony Mason notes that the fourth edition is more than a mere update as there has been a major reworking of the earlier editions. …
This is a complex textbook and one which will definitively remain on my book self for the day I venture into the treacherous seas of federal jurisdiction. It would be valued by judges, practitioners and students alike.
Rahul Bedi, Ethos, ACT Law Society, April 2018
The fourth edition of this text heralds a successful transition from its previous authors, both eminent and venerated scholars, to the next generation. The widely respected Professor Lindell has produced a fourth edition which Sir Anthony Mason describes in his forward as “a mine of information, accompanied by sophisticated and elaborate analysis” which “not only builds on the work of the author’s distinguished predecessors but surpasses it”.
In addition to comprehensively updating the earlier editions with the last fourteen years of the High Court’s jurisprudence, which has seen significant developments on the subject of federal jurisdiction, the text now contains several new chapters. …
Although this text no longer stands alone in addressing the complex and multifaceted topic of federal jurisdiction, having been recently joined by excellent works by the Honourable Mark Leeming and Professor James Stellios, it continues to stand apart as a seminal and thought provoking reference text useful to practitioner and student alike. Read review…
Queensland Law Reporter – 28 October 2016 – [2016] 42 QLR
Review of previous edition:
Federal Jurisdiction in Australia has stood the test of time. … a ‘classic text’ – a well-deserved description. … Like its predecessors, the third edition makes a careful and detailed analysis of each of the heads of federal jurisdiction and presents a considered analysis of relevant case law in the interpretation of these heads. The book also analyses the tensions that have developed in the dual system of federal courts and state courts exercising federal jurisdiction.
Alternative Law Journal, August 2003
