Book Review: Cases and Materials on Constitutional Law
| Author | Keven Booker |
| DOI | 10.1177/0067205X8001100107 |
| Published date | 01 March 1980 |
| Date | 01 March 1980 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
BOOK REVIEWS
Cases and Materials on Constitutional Law by COLIN HOWARD, LL.M.
(Lond.),
PH.D.
(Adel.),
LL.D.
(Melb.); Hearn Professor of Law,
University of Melbourne and
CHERYL
SAUNDERS,
B.A.,
LL.B.,
PH.D.
(Melb.), Lecturer in Law, University of Melbourne. (The Law Book
Company, 1979), pp. i-lxiii, 1-420. Cloth, recommended retail price
$29.50 (ISBN: 0455 19851
9);
Paperback, recommended retail price
$18.50 (ISBN: 0455 19852
7).
One of the legacies of eight decades of Australian federalism is alarge
set of primary and secondary materials of interest to the constitutional
lawyer. To provide aselection of cases in avolume of 483 pages is a
difficult task. The authors have been more ambitious. Their book contains
extracts of cases and also includes the Constitution, proclamations,
statutes, letters, academic comment and other literature of constitutional
significance.
The contextual material in which the Constitution and the cases are
embedded ranges from Earl Grey's 1847 despatch to Governor Fitzroy
to Sir John Kerr's statement of reasons for his decision to dismiss Prime
Minister Whitlam in 1975. The matrix of non-case material is useful
because it assists in reaching an understanding of the content of the
cases and of the nature of the task which confronts the judiciary when
construing the words of the Constitution. Some of the documents
included in the book are also helpful as aguide to the law of the
Constitution on topics which have not been the subject of High Court
deliberations.
The book
is
divided into six chapters. Chapter one contains historical
material on the process of federation and the emergence of Australia as
an independent sovereign entity. The extracts from the draft Constitution
Bills of 1891, 1897 and 1898 provide an interesting link between this
chapter and the remainder of the book. The second chapter covers the
law on the composition of the two Houses of Federal Parliament and the
relationship between the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Chapter three deals with the scope of Commonwealth executive power
and power with respect to appropriation and delegation. Alarge section
of the chapter is devoted to the powers of the Governor-General.
The
fourth chapter uses cases on immunity, grants, taxation and the offshore
zone as avehicle for examining the methods the High Court uses in
interpreting the words of the Constitution. Chapters
five
and six contain
selected cases on severalsection 51 heads of legislative power and further
material on the division of financial powers in the Australian federal
system.
To
assist the student
or
the researcher in obtaining maximum benefit
from this collection, the authors have compiled tables of cases and
statutes, adetailed table of contents and acomprehensive index.
Professor Howard and
Dr
Saunders have included excellent notes at the
end of most of the extracts. The notes highlight themes connecting the
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