by Paul Cutler | Mar 23, 2015 | Uncategorised
“Perhaps the greatest of all the fallacies entertained by lay people about the law … is that the business of a court of justice is to discover the truth. Its real business is to pronounce upon the justice of particular claims.”1 In 2006 two NSW Supreme Court...
by Paul Cutler | Feb 27, 2015 | Uncategorised
Breaking with common law tradition (which didn’t provide a right of appeal), NSW introduced legislation in 1911 which ultimately created the Court of Criminal Appeal. The following ditty (entitled “Three Blind Mice”) which is recited in...
by Paul Cutler | Jan 29, 2015 | Uncategorised
Some of us (not me) may have been on a fishing expedition during our summer holidays. Those memories will begin to fade as the wheels of business start turning for 2015. However, one thing you should remember that it’s not a good idea to go fishing in the...
by Paul Cutler | Dec 15, 2014 | Uncategorised
I recently came across Sir Gerard Brennan’s conference paper titled “Lessons from a life in the law” in which he tells the following anecdote (which he also told at his swearing in as CJ in 1995): “It is nearly 70 years since I first entered a...
by Paul Cutler | Nov 24, 2014 | Uncategorised
Since Gough Whitlam’s passing, there has been a lot of public reflection on the achievements of his government. One of those achievements was the reform of family law and the introduction of no fault divorce under the Family Law Act. Previously under the...
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