Judicial biography of Australian Justice, Sir Gerard Brennan Book Review

Abstract

This is a book review in interview format with me interviewing the book’s author, Jeffrey Fitzgerald. The book is a judicial biography of the famous and influential Australian jurist, Sir Gerard Brennan. Largely in chronological sequence, the book also identifies cross-cutting themes such as the evolution of his jurisprudence over time.

My questions are designed to highlight issues that have parallels in American law, thus introducing the book to American readers. A second focus is the interaction of law and society. Law and society issues pervade the book because it is a longitudinal account of the judge’s encounters with important legal issues that arose in a changing Australian society, his influence on that society, and the corresponding evolution of his jurisprudence. It is law as both a dependent and independent variable, a classic law and society formulation. The judge’s decisions and jurisprudence operate as “constitutive law,” reflecting both the influence of society on law and its influence on society while remaining relatively autonomous from both. Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer’s recent exposition of judicial “pragmatism” is congruent with the jurisprudence of Justice Brennan.

The paper has eight parts with questions and answers as sub-parts: (1) the book and Brennan’s career; (2) constitutional law, federalism, separation of powers, judicial review; (3) civil rights, aboriginal people’s rights, racial discrimination, and other rights; (4) impact on other areas of law (e.g., torts, contracts, criminal law); (5) Brennan’s principles of jurisprudence (6) the High Court, its divisions, and politics (7) personal, family, and professional life; (8) conclusion: mutual influence of law and society.

Purchase the print edition of Sir Gerard Brennan: The Law's Good Servant here: https://federationpress.com.au/product/sir-gerard-brennan/.

Purchase the ebook edition of Sir Gerard Brennan: The Law's Good Servant here: https://www.vitalsource.com/products/sir-gerard-brennan-the-law-s-good-servant-jeff-fitzgerald-v9781760024796.

Keywords: Book Revieiw, Jeffrey Fitzgerald, Gerard Brennan, Australia, High Court, Racial Discrimination, Legal History, Constitutive Law, Pragmatism, Law and Society