Book Review: Australian Federal Politics and Law 1929–1949
| Published date | 01 March 1964 |
| Author | J. Q. Ewens |
| DOI | 10.1177/0067205X6400100113 |
| Date | 01 March 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
JUNE
1964]
Book Reviews 165
judicially invoked under the influence
of
righteous indignation, usually
add nothing to human happiness or social stability.
Dr
Biggs
deals with matrimonial cruelty in its various aspects. Drunken-
ness; wilful communication
of
venereal disease; abuse,. false accusa-
tions and '
nagging';
maltreatment
of
children; offences against third
parties; abnormal marital relations; each receives aseparate chapter.
Provocation as an excuse for cruel conduct; the effect
of
estoppel;
and cruelty as adiscretionary bar, are discussed.
By
ajudicious selection
of
authorities expressing the general principles underlying the concept
\vhich the essay examines, the author provides lawyers and social scien-
tists with aclear statement
of
the law on each topic considered, and often
as
well
with an indication
of
his opinion
of
the sufficiency or otherwise
of
the reasons advanced for it.
In
recent years the two most useful books
for the inquirer who desires agenuine understanding
of
the law ofdivorce
and its inadequacies and the way they came about and the reasons why
they persist, are
O.
R. McGregor's Divorce
in
England
(1957)
and
Dr
Biggs' The Concept
of
Matrimonial Cruelty. Although the latter
is
professedly confined to an examination
of
the ways in which judges have
dealt with cruelty in matrimonial law, its relevance
is
wider, for it describes
perceptively an aspect
of
the halting process whereby judicial decisions
have relaxed the rigidities
of
the law
of
divorce during the eleven decades,
almost, since its administration was committed to the courts.
Dr
Biggs'
book deserves the warmest commendation as the work
of
alearned and
realistic scholar who has lucidly presented the results
of
his research and
his cogitations in an excellently organized and penetrating study. Its
importance and utility are not lessened by Gollins' case and Williams'
case;
indeed, they are enhanced, for those cases can be rightly under-
stood only in the light
of
the examination he has made.
JOHN V. BARRY*
Australian Federal Politics and Law
1929-1949,
by GEOFFREY
SAWER,
B.A., LL.M. (Melb.) Professor
of
Law, Australian National University
(Melbourne University Press, Melbourne,
1963),
pp. i-x,
1-244.
£3.10s.
Seven years ago, Australian Federal Politics and Law
1901-1929
was
published.
It
was written by the author
of
the book now reviewed in the
course
of
his work at the Research School
of
Social Sciences, Australian
National University,
It
described briefly the origins
of
the Common-
wealth and the structure
of
the new Commonwealth Parliament.
It
continued by describing the work
of
the first eleven
'Parliaments'-
using the word here in the sense
of
the session or sessions between succes-
sive elections
of
the House
of
Representatives.
The present book covers the period from
1929
to
1949
and continues
the description to the end
of
the Eighteenth Parliament. The period
begins
at
the time
of
the Scullin Government and ends with the defeat
*AJustice
of
the Supreme Court
of
Victoria.
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