Overview

"Legal Limits explores the uneasy relationship between law and literature. \nA concern for the fate of the individual in society, an interest in the truth of any matter in contention, forms of narrative, matters of conscience – lawyers and writers share preoccupations of this kind but deal with them in different ways. The legal system looks for a just result by reference to evidence, objectivity and reason. Literary works resort to mood and speculation, but in doing so they can reveal important truths. \nNicholas Hasluck’s lengthy experience as a lawyer and novelist enable him to provide a clearer understanding of the relationship. His views will be of value to practising lawyers, especially advocates, for due process depends upon stories being told well. \nThe wide-ranging discussion in this book, embracing controversial topics such as preventive detention for sexual offenders, recent restrictions upon freedom of speech and the role of constitutional conventions in the Whitlam dismissal, concludes with a thoughtful Afterword by a leading constitutional lawyer, Peter Johnston. In revisiting Hasluck’s acclaimed novel The Bellarmine Jug, he shows that literary works can be used to cast light on the rule of law and the meaning of justice. \n""In considering how to introduce the launch of this book, a culinary term came to mind degustation. Each chapter in the book is a distinct gustatory pleasure - not only for the often-jaded legal palate, but for the probably more discerning tastes of a wider public. And to finish we have Peter Johnston's delicious complimentary petit fours, coffee and the exotic dessert wine of the Hart-Fuller debate and its sequelae."" Read Launch Speech published in Brief, April 2014... \nThe Hon Robert French AC, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia"

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9781862879386

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Reviews

The Australian, 6 Feb 2014 Read full article... Book review in The Australian, 1-2 February 2014 Read full review... Book review in SMH, 25 January 2014 Read full review... Justinian, On the Couch interviews Nicholas Hasluck Read full interview...

Author Information

Nicholas Hasluck AM, QC studied law at the University of Western Australia, then Wadham College, Oxford, before returning to Australia to become a practising lawyer in Perth. He served as a part-time President of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal (WA) for ten years prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in May 2000. He has now retired from the bench. He is well-known also as the author of 11 works of fiction including The Bellarmine Jug, winner of The Age Book of the Year Award. He served as Chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council and later as Chair of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. He was recently awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Western Australia.

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