This volume is the third in a series of collections published in honour of the late Professor Leslie Zines AO and in celebration of his profound legacy for Australian constitutional law. In this volume, two of the eight topics are also directed to commemorating the contributions of the Honourable Paul Finn.
As with the previous two volumes, the papers in this collection address contemporary questions of constitutional law. There is also the valuable addition in this volume of interdisciplinary perspectives on two of the topics that bookend the collection. The collection commences with a paper on ‘Dispersing Powers within the State’ by Professor Philip Pettit AC, one of the world’s leading political philosophers, with a commentary by former Royal Commissioner, the Honourable Catherine Holmes AC SC. The final paper by Associate Professor Tracy Beck Fenwick provides a political science view of ‘Fiscal Federalism after Vanderstock v Victoria’. Commentaries are provided from constitutional (Justice Geoffrey Kennett) and tax law (Professor Miranda Stewart) perspectives. A view from an economist is provided by Associate Professor Maria Racionero Llorente.
In between these papers are contributions on the topics of ‘Due Process in Criminal Trials’ (by Professor Rebecca Ananian-Welsh), ‘The Use of History in Constitutional Law Litigation’ (by Dr Caitlin Goss), analyses of the important High Court cases of Attorney-General (Cth) v Huynh (by Justice Matthew Howard) and Burns v Corbett (by Justice Craig Lenehan), and a timely revisitation of proportionality in constitutional law (by Justice Jeremy Kirk). Stellar commentaries on these topics are provided by Justice Belinda Baker, Justice Stephen Donaghue, Fiona Roughley SC and Dr Jelena Gligorijevic. There follow papers by Professor Elise Bant on ‘Correcting the Public Conscience: Reflections on Finn and the Forgotten Trust?’ (with commentary by Justice Mark Leeming) and by the Honourable Paul Brereton AM RFD on ‘The Commonwealth Integrity Branch’ (with commentary by Dr Lynsey Blayden).
The collection concludes with the illuminating observations of Bret Walker SC drawing themes of the collection together. As with the two earlier volumes, this third volume offers thoughtful and engaging reflections on topics of contemporary constitutional significance.
