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Owen Dixon, Philip Ayres, The Miegunyah Press, 2003

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Owen Dixon, Philip Ayres, The Miegunyah Press, 2003

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2025

Fiona Wheeler
Fiona Wheeler*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, ANU
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Type
Book Reviews
Information
Federal Law Review , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , June 2003 , pp. 415 - 420
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 The Australian National University

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References

1 Anthony Mason, Sir, 'The Centenary of the High Court of Australia' (2003) 5 Constitutional Law and Policy Review 41, 42Google Scholar. Mason is critical of Dixon's judicial methodology, however: see, eg, at 45.

2 On Dixon's memory, see Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 25–6. On his work ethic, see, eg, at 39, 47, 49, 65, 148, 260–1.

3 (1911) 13 CLR 461. Dixon's argument is summarised in the report at 465–6. As Ayres notes in his account of Cock v Aitken, Dixon's brief in this matter came from his uncle, solicitor John Dixon: Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 21.

4 Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 26.

5 Ibid 27, 32.

6 The friendship between Dixon and Menzies dated from 1918 when Menzies became Dixon's pupil at the bar (ibid 28). At the very end of Dixon's life, he and Menzies, both in poor health, remained in contact exchanging messages via a tape recorder: see ibid 289–90.

7 The invitation came from Dixon's surviving daughter: ibid xvi.

8 Cf ibid 294.

9 Ibid xvi.

10 The detailed bibliography provides further information on these sources: ibid 369–84.

11 Ayres, Philip, 'Dixon diaries' in Blackshield, Tony, Coper, Michael Williams, George (eds), The Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia (2001) 222Google Scholar.

12 Ibid 223.

13 Ayres, Philip, Owen Dixon (2003) 4, 55, 291Google Scholar.

14 Ibid 72; see also 89, 183.

15 Ibid 19–20.

16 Ibid 39, 195, 248.

17 Ibid 48.

18 Ibid 51–2.

19 Ibid 49; see also 286. Cf R v Richards; Ex parte Fitzpatrick and Browne (1955) 92 CLR 157 where the Court's judgment was given orally by Dixon CJ (although he explains why at 161).

20 Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 22, 53.

21 Ibid 71 (Latham), 285–6 (Barwick). In 1935 Dixon probably hoped that he would be appointed Chief Justice instead of Latham: ibid 71–2.

22 Owen Dixon, Sir, 'Concerning Judicial Method' in Woinarski, Severin (ed), Jesting Pilate (1965) 152, 157Google Scholar.

23 Ibid 155. See also Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 232–3. The paper 'Concerning Judicial Method', delivered by Dixon at Yale University in 1955, is discussed at 251–4.

24 See, eg, Mason, above n 1, 45.

25 Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth (1951) 83 CLR 1; Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 222.

26 Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 222 n 10 (Ayres' paraphrase of Dixon).

27 Ibid 253. Dixon recognised, however, that resort to policy considerations in legal reasoning was necessary in certain situations: ibid 81–2.

28 Owen Dixon, Sir, 'Upon Taking the Oath of Office as Chief Justice' in Woinarski, Severin (ed), Jesting Pilate (1965) 245, 247Google Scholar.

29 Ayres, Philip, Owen Dixon (2003) 233Google Scholar.

30 Dixon, above n 28, 247.

31 For a recent critique, see Zines, Leslie, 'Legalism, Realism and Judicial Rhetoric in Constitutional Law' (2002) 5 Constitutional Law and Policy Review 21Google Scholar; cf Ayres, Philip, Owen Dixon (2003) 232–3, 293–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32 Ayres, Philip, Owen Dixon (2003) 9–11, 285Google Scholar.

33 Ibid 56 (title to Ch 5 'A Reluctant Justice on the High Court 1929–1939').

34 Ibid 50, 53.

35 Ibid 70–1; see also 181, 235.

36 Ibid Chs 5 and 9.

37 See generally ibid Chs 5 and 9 and Ayres, above n 11, 223.

38 Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 178 (punctuation as in original).

39 Ibid Ch 12.

40 Ibid 290.

41 Brown, A J, 'The Wig or the Sword? Separation of Powers and the Plight of the Australian Judge' (1992) 21 Federal Law Review 48, 87CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42 Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 62–3, 70, 243–4.

43 Ibid 116; see generally 115–17.

44 Ibid 144 n 14.

45 See generally ibid Ch 7.

46 Wilson v Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (1996) 189 CLR 1.

47 J D Holmes, 'Royal Commissions' (1955) 29 Australian Law Journal 253, 272 (commentary of Dixon); Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 117.

48 Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 235–8, 249, 255, 275.

49 George Winterton, 'Injudicious Advice' (Letter to the Editor) (2000) 44 Quadrant 6 discussed in Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 238. See also Wilson v Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (1996) 189 CLR 1, 19–20 (Brennan CJ, Dawson, Toohey, McHugh and Gummow JJ).

50 (1954) 90 CLR 177.

51 Ayres, Philip, Owen Dixon (2003) 244Google Scholar.

52 See, eg, ibid 219–24, 250, 260. For a thoughtful discussion of how to assess, in retrospect, judicial involvement in Australian cold war politics, see Laurence Maher, 'Tales of the Overt and the Covert: Judges and Politics in Early Cold War Australia' (1993) 21 Federal Law Review 151.

53 Holmes, above n 47, 272 (commentary of Dixon).

54 Bank of New South Wales v Commonwealth (1948) 76 CLR 1; Philip Ayres, Owen Dixon (2003) 186–90.

55 Ayres, Philip, Owen Dixon (2003) 219–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

56 There are many references to this throughout the book. For the first example, see ibid 56–7.