Volume 27(1)
July 1997
ARTICLES
Judicial Activism, Michael Kirby (pp 1-20)
A Return to Dispossession and Discrimination: The Ten Point Plan, Richard Bartlett (pp 44-65)
Rescission: A Case for Rejecting the Classical Model, Nyuk Yin Nahan (pp 66-85)
Rearranging Workplace Relations: Revolution or Evolution?, WJ Ford (pp 86-115)
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN FORUM
The Judges of Western Australia: Part I, Kate Offer (pp 116-124)
BOOK REVIEWS
Cross Border Criminal Law, David Lanham (pp 125-127) Reviewed by Neil Morgan
Overviews
ARTICLES
Judicial Activism (pp 1-20) 
Michael Kirby (Justice of the High Court of Australia)
Is judicial activism a good thing? This question is currently being debated not only in Australia but also in many other countries whose legal systems are based on the common law. In this essay, Justice Michael Kirby analyses the public’s attitude to activism in four countries: Australia, India, the United States and England. He suggests that in each of these jurisdictions public antipathy towards activism may be based on a misunderstanding of what it involves and a failure to appreciate the narrow confines within which it operates.
A Return to Dispossession and Discrimination: The Ten Point Plan (pp 44-65)
Richard Bartlett (Professor of Law, The University of Western Australia)
This article examines the Native Title Amendment Bill 1997 (the ‘Ten Point Plan’) and measures it against the standard of equality before the law. It concludes that the Plan perpetuates the policy of subordinating Aboriginal land rights and continues the historical pattern of discriminatory legislation upon which the colonisation of Australia was founded. The Plan is considered to entail a gross denial of equality before the law. It will face legal challenge both domestically and internationally.
Rescission: A Case for Rejecting the Classical Model (pp 66-85)
Nyuk Yin Nahan (nee Chin) (Associate Professor, The University of Western Australia)
When is a person ‘barred’ from rescinding his or her contract? Lawyers have given much consideration to this question, but have rarely asked whether it is necessary to have the bars at all. In this essay, the author examines the fundamentals of rescission, and the bars to it, and concludes that the present rules are outmoded and should be replaced. A new scheme of ‘pecuniary rescission’, which would operate between the original parties to the contract, is suggested as an alternative to the existing law.
Rearranging Workplace Relations: Revolution or Evolution? (pp 86-115)
WJ Ford (Senior Lecturer, The University of Western Australia)
An explicit priority of the Federal Coalition government upon taking office early in 1996 was the reform of Australian industrial relations. The Workplace Relations Act 1996, passed later the same year, was intended to bring that reform about. This article examines the nature, likely impact and significance of some of the changes introduced by the statute.
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN FORUM
The Judges of Western Australia: Part I (pp 116-124)
Kate Offer (Associate Lecturer, The University of Western Australia)
This is the first of a series of pen portraits of the judges of Western Australia. In this issue Kate Offer provides profiles of Chief Justice David Malcolm and two senior judges of the Supreme Court, Geoffrey Kennedy and Bill Pidgeon.
BOOK REVIEW
Cross Border Criminal Law, David Lanham (pp 125-127) (Reviewed by Neil Morgan)
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