The Knox Court: Exposition Unnecessary
| Author | Graham Fricke |
| Published date | 01 March 1999 |
| Date | 01 March 1999 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.22145/flr.27.1.5 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THE KNOX COURT: EXPOSITION UNNECESSARY
Graham Fricke*
Knox
has
generally
been
regarded
as a
disappointing
ChiefJustice; his
high
distinction
at
the
Bar
was
not
matched
by
his achievements as ajudge.
His
undoubted
skills
as
a
lawyer
were
overbalanced
by
the
distractions
of
interests
outside
the
law'!
Australia's second chief justice has generally received a
bad
press. Perhaps this is
due
in
part
to the circumstances of his departure,2which
did
nothing to enhance the
prestige of the office. But
it
may
be worthwhile to revisit the decade of his stewardship,
for
it
marks the commencement of acentralist approach to the interpretation of
our
Constitution.
It
may also be fruitful to examine the extent to which the justices
under
his leadership collaborated in preparing their judgments, for
that
question
has
a
contemporary relevance.
PERSONAL
BACKGROUND
It
seems fitting
that
Knox's supervision of the judicial
arm
should
have
roughly
coincided
with
Stanley Bruce's prime ministership. For both
men
were
quintessentially
patrician
in
style-aloof,
didactic, disdainful
and
quite antagonistic to the notion
that
they
should
be expected to explain or account for their actions.
Both
men
were the
product
of anglophile, authoritarian antecedents. Each of
them
studied
law
at
Cambridge University. Each
was
admitted to the English bar.
Bruce-
who
later became a
viscount-may
have ultimately
spent
more of his life
in
England
than
did
Knox,
but
Knox commenced his association with England
at
an
earlier age.
He
received his primary education
in
Australia,
but
at
the age of 14
he
enrolled
at
Harrow
and
remained
in
England for afurther decade.
It
is obvious, then,
that
Adrian Knox, like Stanley Bruce,
was
surrounded
by
circumstances of privilege from
an
early age. His father,
who
later became Sir
Edward
Knox,
had
been appointed manager
and
chairman of directors of Colonial Sugar
Refinery Co Ltd in 1855, eight years before Adrian
was
born. Sir
Edward
had
also
served as
an
appointed member of the
New
South Wales Legislative Council prior to
Adrian's birth.
After qualifying
in
law
in
England, Adrian Knox
returned
to Australia. His material
fortune continued to improve.
He
read
at
the Sydney
bar
with his older brother
George.
When
George died two years later, Adrian succeeded to alarge
part
of his
older brother's practice.
*
1
2
Visiting Professor
in
Law,
Deakin
University.
Z
Cowen,
Sir
John
Latham
&
other
Papers
(1965)
at
34.
See text
below
at
nn
41-46.
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