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Abstract:
This critique explores some of the broad implications of republican and liberal liberty that Pettit points to in his paper, 'Republican liberty and its constitutional significance'. In articulating a republican approach to constitutional issues, Pettit says that his discussion is intended as a theoretical exercise, not a historical one; he attempts to work out the implications which follow from the value of republican liberty rather than relying on the constitutional recommendations of republican writers. My approach follows Pettit's stated methodology. It indicates that Pettit has overstated the contrast between republican and liberal liberty.

republican liberty, republicanism, liberalism, constitutionalism

Abstract:
Philip Pettit's narrative of the eclipse of republican by liberal liberty in late eighteenth-century Britain adds colour and plausibility to his analytical contrast between republican and liberal liberty. The narrative supports his argument that republicanism and liberalism can be helpfully contrasted in terms of non-domination and non-interference conceptions of liberty. While the narrative has not been scrutinised in the literature, it is in fact flawed. The flaws raise new questions about how stringent a value liberty as non-domination is and what motivated the value. The flaws also raise new questions about the significance of liberty as non-interference within the very strand of liberalism that Pettit focuses upon. Finally, it raises doubts about some aspects of Quentin Skinner's interpretation of republican liberty.

republicanism, liberty, Pettit, Skinner

Abstract:
This paper discusses the practice of deliberative polling, some existing proposals for institutionalising them, and the rationale for the practice and those proposals. It then discusses implications for judicial review that arise from experience with deliberative polls. These implications support a check upon parliament and the executive. However, they also raise the question of whether something like a deliberative poll could be institutionalised as a substitute for a conventional judiciary. A Citizens' Court is then sketched and evaluated. The unrepresentative quality of the judiciary is a manifest weakness that tells in favour of the Citizens' Court proposal. However, an alternative approach to selecting judges that would make them more representative is also mentioned.

deliberative polls, countermajoritarian difficulty, judicial appointment

Abstract:
This article is concerned with the judicial practice of justifying decisions by reference to community values, a practice supported by prominent Australian judges (including the for-mer Chief Justices of the High Court, Anthony Mason and Gerard Brennan) and academics in Australia and overseas. This practice has proved particularly attractive to activist judges, perhaps as a means of lending democratic legitimacy to their decisions. In 1995, it was de-fended by John Braithwaite, the internationally recognised criminologist, through the con-struction of a model of judicial decision-making. By drawing upon social psychology and a republican model of judicial decision-making, I uncover problems with Braithwaite's model which were not pointed to in earlier critiques. I also throw light more generally upon this ju-dicial practice.

republicanism, community values, community consensus, judicial decision-making

Abstract:
John Braithwaite and Philip Pettit's Not Just Deserts: A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice (1990) provides a comprehensive approach to criminal justice issues. One of its central contentions is that retributivism should be abandoned in favour of a consequentialist theory aimed at promoting republican liberty. I demonstrate that their exclusion of retributivism is problematic. I also formulate a new approach to retributivism, placing this value within a consequentialist framework.

republicanism, criminal justice, consequentialism, retributivism