AUSTRALIAN BAR REVIEW

PRECEDENT LAW, PRACTICE & TRENDS IN AUSTRALIA

The Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG

The author surveys the current operation of the doctrine of precedent in

Australia. He describes the changes introduced following the abolition of
Privy Council appeals and the consequential alteration in the authority of
English judicial decisions. He outlines of the principles for deriving the
binding rule established by a judicial decision and relevant areas of
uncertainty. He reviews the doctrine of precedent as it applies to the High
Court of Australia itself, including the contested procedural rule requiring
leave to permit a past holding of the Court to be re-opened and overruled.
He describes the debates over "judicial activism" and the rules observed
by intermediate courts as to the reopening of their past authority. The
article concludes with discussion of the developments that will potentially
have an effect upon the operation of the doctrine of precedent: the advent
of the internet; the connected increasing use of international judicial
authority; and the explosion of statute law for which precedent is often a
less important tool than in identifying the common law.

The doctrine of precedent has been described in this Journal as

the hallmark of the common law1. It has been called the cornerstone
of a common law judicial system2, something woven into the essential

Based on a paper given as Australian rapporteur for the conference

of the International Academy of Comparative Law at the University
of Utrecht, the Netherlands, July 2006. The author acknowledges
the assistance of Mrs Lorraine Finlay, legal research officer, High
Court of Australia Library, in the preparation of this paper.

Justice of the High Court of Australia.

1
A F Mason, The Use and Abuse of Precedent (1988) 4 Australian
Bar Review 93, at 93.
2
B.V. Harris, Final Appellate Courts Overruling Their Own Wrong
Precedents: The Ongoing Search for Principle (2002) 118 Law
Quarterly Review 408, at 412.
 2.

fabric of each common law countrys constitutional ethos3. Its

significance in day-to-day legal practice may have declined, as I will
suggest, with the rise in the quantity and importance of statute law.
However, it still lies at the heart of the Australian legal system and the
way in which Australian lawyers approach the resolution of many legal
problems.

Advocates of a strict view of the doctrine of precedent claim that

the consistency, continuity and predictability resulting from adherence to
binding precedent is essential to the maintenance of public confidence in
the law and the efficient discharge by the judiciary of its functions,
performed in a lawful and predictable manner. On the other hand,
Justice Lionel Murphy, saw a risk of serious injustice in too rigid an
adherence to precedent. He even went so far as to suggest that it was
an approach "eminently suitable for a nation overwhelmingly populated
by sheep"4.

Somewhere between the world of slavish obedience to past

precedent and antagonism towards its rules, lies the real world of
precedent in contemporary Australian law as it is practised in the courts
and obeyed by those who are subject to its requirements.

3
Ibid, at 412.
4
LK Murphy, The Responsibility of Judges, opening address for the
First national Conference of Labor Lawyers, 29 June 1979, in G
Evans (ed) Law Politics and the Labor Movement, Legal Service
Bulletin, 1980 Clayton Victoria.
 3.

THE INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH PRECEDENT

The most significant formal change to the application of precedent

over the past thirty years in Australia derives from the changing status of
English judicial decisions in Australian courts5. Until the 1970s and
1980s the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was the final court of
appeal for Australia in most areas of the law. It operated at the apex of
the Australian legal system6. As such, in respect of any legal principle
essential to the case, the rules established by decisions of the Privy
Council were binding upon all courts, federal, State and Territory,
throughout Australia7.

This position changed because of the severance of formal legal

and constitutional ties with the Privy Council8. The membership by the

5
As late as 1975, the High Court of Australia emphasised the
desirability of following even non-binding English judicial authority.
See Public Transport Commission (NSW) v J Murray-More (NSW)
Pty Ltd (1975) 132 CLR 336 at 341, 352. cf Piro v W Foster & Co
Ltd (1943) 68 CLR 313 at 320; Trimble v Hill (1879) 5 App Cas 342
at 345. But see Parker v The Queen (1963) 111 CLR 610 at 632
per Dixon CJ.
6
Australian Constitution, s 74.
7
Skelton v Collins (1966) 115 CLR 94, per Kitto J at 104; Viro v The
Queen (1978) 141 CLR 88, per Gibbs J at 118.
8
Achieved successively by the Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals)
Act 1968 (Cth); Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act
1975 (Cth) and the Australia Acts 1986 (Aust & UK), s 11(1). See
Viro v The Queen (1978) 141 CLR 88; Kirmani v Captain Cook
Cruises Pty Ltd [No 2]; ex parte Attorney-General (Qld) (1985) 159
CLR 461 at 464-465 and Cook v Cook (1986) 162 CLR 376 at 390.
Footnote continues
 4.

United Kingdom of the Council of Europe and the European Union, and
the increasing influence of European law on the development of English
law, are bound to diminish further the role of English precedent in the
future development of Australian law. This process can already be seen
in the diminished citation of English legal decisions in the High Court and
other Australian courts. The increasing influence on United Kingdom
cases of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms, since the commencement of the Human Rights Act 1998
(UK) in 2000, makes the invocation of English judicial case law more
problematic, because of the new and different starting points now
provided by this important legal development9.

Australian law now depends, virtually exclusively10, upon the

decisions of Australian lawmakers and courts and the expression,
application and development of Australian precedent, with the High
Court of Australia as the uncontested apex of the nation's judicial system
and hence as the primary source of binding legal precedent applicable
throughout the country.

As to the Australia Acts 1986 (UK) see Attorney-General (WA) v

Marquet (2002) 217 CLR 545 at 612-616 [202]-[213].
9
Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Lenah Game Meats Pty Ltd
(2001) 208 CLR 199 at 251-252 [115].
10
Compare R v Judge Bland; ex parte DPP (Vic) [1987] VR 225 at
234; Hawkins v Clayton t/as Clayton Utz (1986) 5 NSWLR 109 at
137 per McHugh JA; Rockwell Graphic Systems Ltd v Fremantle
Terminals Ltd (1991) 106 FLR 294 at 301; and T Blackshield, M
Coper and G Williams (eds), The Oxford Companion to the High
Court of Australia, (2001), at 551 ("Precedent").
 5.

DETERMINING PRECEDENT IN AUSTRALIA

The binding nature of the ratio decidendi: Lower courts in

Australia are not bound by everything that is said in a judicial decision or
by all of the judicial observations of a higher court. Rather, it is the ratio
decidendi of the decision that binds11, as determined by analysis of the
reasons of the judges in the majority. As I noted in Garcia v National
Australia Bank Ltd12, the consequence of this approach for the
ascertainment of binding precedent is that the opinions of judges in
dissent and all judicial remarks of a general character upon tangential,
additional or inessential questions or issues (obiter dicta), even if
included in the reasons of judges who form part of the majority in the
decision, will not become part of binding precedent.

Multiple concurring judgments: Determining the ratio decidendi of

a judicial decision becomes a more complex task when multiple
concurring reasons are published by several judges for joining in the
court's orders in a given case. In such a case, the ratio must be derived

11
R Cross and J W Harris, Precedent in English Law, (4th ed, 1991),
at 72. Cf A MacAdam and J Pyke, Judicial Reasoning and the
Doctrine of Precedent in Australia (1998) at 41 [3.17].
12
Garcia v National Australia Bank Ltd (1998) 194 CLR 395 at 417-
418 [56]; Federation Insurance Ltd v Wasson (1987) 163 CLR 303,
per Mason CJ, Wilson, Dawson and Toohey JJ at 314; D'Orta
Ekenaike v Victoria Legal Aid (2005) 223 CLR 1 at 79-80 [244]-
[246].
 6.

from the essential areas of agreement legally necessary to the decision,

found within the reasons of the judges in the majority. Sometimes, as
the Privy Council observed of a High Court decision, this can be a
doubtful or even impossible exercise13.

Lawyers of the common law tradition are often shocked that the
civil law tradition does not generally allow the expression of dissenting
opinions in appellate courts. Most common law practitioners view this
facility as essential to judicial independence. Moreover they are
commonly left unconvinced by the very brief and seemingly formulaic
reasons of courts of civil law jurisdictions in controversial cases, where
such reasons appear to conceal the important policy concerns that
common law reasoning identifies and commonly discusses openly14.
Multiple reasons are common in Australian multi-member appellate
courts15. This is why it is necessary to have clear rules for ascertaining
any binding rule contained in a superior court's decision. Ascertaining
the binding rule is a technical task. However, it is surprising to discover
that the basic rules by which this must be done are often misunderstood
or even unknown. Furthermore, even today, some such rules are

13
Referring to Caltex Oil (Australia) Pty Ltd v The Dredge
"Willemstad" (1976) 136 CLR 529 in Candlewood Navigation
Corporation v Mitsui OSK Lines [1986] AC 1 at 22.
14
J Lockhart, "The Doctrine of Precedent - Today and Tomorrow",
(1987) 3 Australian Bar Review 1 at 25.
15
M Davies, "Common law liability of statutory authorities: Crimmins v
Stevedoring Industry Finance Committee", (2000) 8 Torts Law
Journal 133 at 147-148.
 7.

uncertain of content or application16. Sometimes questions arise

peculiar to a jurisdiction's statutory or constitutional setting. Thus, in
Australia, questions have arisen as to the binding quality of decisions
reached by a so-called "statutory majority"17 of the High Court18 (not
binding) and special leave dispositions19.

16
See discussion: Re Tyler; ex parte Foley (1994) 181 CLR 18 at
37-38; D'Orta Ekenaike v Victoria Legal Aid (2005) 223 CLR 1 at 46
[133] per McHugh J.
17
Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth), s 23(2)(b).
18
Colonial Sugar Refining Co Ltd v Attorney-General for the
Commonwealth (1912) 15 CLR 182 at 234; Tasmania v Victoria
(1935) 52 CLR 157 at 183; Milne v Federal Commissioner of
Taxation (1976) 133 CLR 526 at 533; Federal Commissioner of
Taxation v St Helen Farm (ACT) Pty Ltd (1981) 146 CLR 336 at
354-355.
19
R v Travers (1957) 58 SR (NSW) 85 at 106; cf A f Mason, "The Use
and Abuse of Precedent", (1988) 4 Australian Bar Review 93 at
96-97.
 8.

Distinguishing between legal principles and orders: A distinction

must be drawn between the legal principle for which the reasoning in a
decision stands and the binding force of the actual order made in the
case. When the High Court of Australia overrules a previous decision of
the Court, the ratio decidendi of that decision will no longer be binding as
a legal precedent. However, this will not, of itself, affect the validity and
effect of the actual orders and judgment that were made in the case
whose legal principle has been overruled. The reasons for this
differentiation were outlined in Ruddock v Taylor20:

Before a party or the community is excused from

compliance with the orders of this Court it is necessary for
the Court to examine the question and itself set aside, or
vary, any orders earlier made, if that course is justified. No
person may decide for themselves to ignore orders of this
Court or treat them as invalid so long as such orders remain
in force.

THE BINDING NATURE OF DECISIONS OF THE HIGH COURT

Given its position now as the final court of appeal in Australia, and
also its position as a constitutional court, the High Court of Australia has
rejected the proposition that it is strictly bound by legal holdings
contained in its own past decisions. As noted by Justice Dixon in
Attorney General for New South Wales v Perpetual Trustee Company

20
Ruddock v Taylor (2005) 222 CLR 612 at 647 [129], 658-659 [169]-
[172].
 9.

Ltd, such a restrictive view would be inappropriate, given the

responsibilities of the Court, as envisaged by the Constitution21.

Although the High Court has not established exact rules as to the
circumstances in which a previous decision will be overruled22, it is often
said that it is not sufficient that a judge should personally disagree with
the principle expressed in an earlier decision. Instead, when overruling
past decisions High Court, the Justices have frequently used phrases
describing the earlier decision as manifestly wrong23, fundamentally
wrong24 or plainly erroneous25 to emphasise the exceptional nature of
such an action. However, in practice, the difference between
disagreement and strong disagreement may be little more than a
difference in judicial temperament and expression.

21
Attorney-General for New South Wales v Perpetual Trustees
Company Ltd (1952) 85 CLR 237, per Dixon J at 244.
22
B Horrigan, "Towards a Jurisprudence of High Court Overruling"
(1992) 66 ALJ 199.
23
Australian Agricultural Co v Federated Engine-Drivers and
Firemens Association of Australasia (1913) 17 CLR 261, per Isaacs
J at 278; The Tramways Case [No. 1] (1914) 18 CLR 54, per Griffith
CJ at 58; Cain v Malone (1942) 66 CLR 10, per Latham CJ at 15;
Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1997) 189 CLR 520,
at 554.
24
McGinty v Western Australia (1996) 186 CLR 140 at 235 per
McHugh J.
25
Babaniaris v Lutony Fashions Pty Ltd (1987) 163 CLR 1, per Mason
J at 13.
 10.

The High Court of Australia has stated that previous decisions

should only be overruled in exceptional circumstances and that the
power to do so should be exercised with caution26. Yet, the same rule
does not necessarily apply to constitutional cases. In such cases the
High Court has been much more inclined to re-examine its past
decisions. This is because of the entrenched nature of the constitutional
decisions reached by the Court. Constitutional decisions cannot be
overruled by the legislature. So long as they stand, they may only be
altered, overturned or varied in a future High Court challenge or by an
amending constitutional referendum, the latter notoriously difficult to
achieve in Australia27. Further, judges of the High Court have
recognized their primary and personal obligation to the Constitution
itself, over and above strict adherence to a legal doctrine of precedent
that is not itself expressly mandated by the constitutional text28.

26
McGinty v Western Australia (1996) 186 CLR 140, per McHugh J at
235; Re Tyler; Ex parte Foley (1994) 181 CLR 18, per McHugh J at
38-39; H.C. Sleigh Ltd v South Australia (1977) 136 CLR 475, per
Mason J at 501; Queensland v Commonwealth (1977) 139 CLR
585, per Gibbs J at 599, Stephen J at 602-603, Aickin J at 620;
Hughes & Vale Pty Ltd v New South Wales (1953) 87 CLR 49, per
Kitto J at 102.
27
In Australia, in 105 years there have been 44 attempts by
referendum to amend the Constitution, often to override a decision
of the High Court. Only 8 such attempts have succeeded. T
Blackshield and G Williams, Australian Constitutional Law and
Theory (3rd ed, 2002), 1301.
28
Australian Agricultural Co v FEDFA (1913) 17 CLR 261 at 278, 288;
Shaw v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2003) 218
CLR 28 at 55 [76]; Permanent Trustee Australia Ltd v Commissioner
of State Revenue (Vic) (2004) 220 CLR 388 at 452-453 [179]; New
South Wales v The Commonwealth (2006) 231 ALR 1 at 215
[748]-[753].
 11.

These factors should be afforded an even greater priority when

the constitutional matter before the High Court involves the protection of
individual human rights and fundamental freedoms. Justice Brennan
acknowledged this consideration in Street v Queensland Bar
Association29, stating that:

The doctrine of stare decisis is least cogent in its

application to those few provisions which are calculated to
protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.

REVIEWING PRECEDENT SUPPOSED REQUIREMENT OF LEAVE

Whilst the High Court of Australia does not consider itself bound
as a matter of precedential law by its previous authority, the question
has arisen as to whether it is necessary, procedurally, to obtain leave
from the Court to re-argue the correctness of a previous holding of the
Court. In Evda Nominees Proprietary Ltd v Victoria30, Chief Justice
Gibbs expressed the view that leave was required. The majority of the
High Court concurred. A general practice has developed that leave is
commonly sought before a challenge to past authority is ventured. Once
leave is granted, the practice generally followed is for argument on the
question to be adjourned, if necessary, to be heard by a Full Bench of all
available Justices.

29
(1989) 168 CLR 461 J at 518-519. See also per Mason CJ at 489,
Toohey J at 560, and McHugh J at 588.
30
(1984) 154 CLR 311.
 12.

A contrary view has been expressed. In his dissenting reasons in

Evda Nominees Proprietary Ltd v Victoria31 Justice Deane stated that:

In my view, counsel representing a party does not require

the permission of the Court to present or to continue to
present argument that is relevant to the decision in the case,
including argument seeking to show that a previous decision
of the Court is wrong and should not be followed.

I have expressed my own preference for the approach of Justice

Deane in numerous cases32. The procedural rule purporting to require
leave effectively allows a majority of the Justices to nip in the bud
propositions that the majority do not agree with, and effectively to deny
others on the Court the full opportunity to consider argument, including
on important points of constitutional principle, that parties themselves
may wish to place before the Court. Because there is no unanimity on
this supposed requirement at present, the parties commonly ask for
leave but are generally allowed, in practice, to develop their arguments
so as to avoid forcing the issue to a ruling in which the present
differences of opinion on the procedural issue would open up the debate
on the substantive issue in any event.

31
(1984) 154 CLR 311, per Deane J at 316.
32
See eg Brownlee v The Queen (2001) 207 CLR 278 at 314-315
[106]-[108].
 13.

PRECEDENT AND JUDICIAL ACTIVISM

The Australian debate concerning the application of precedent

takes place in the context of a broader debate about the judicial method.
This is the debate between the merits of strict and complete legalism
and judicial restraint as against what critics call judicial activism and
defenders describe as proper judicial creativity33.

The doctrine of strict legalism was expressed by Sir Owen Dixon

on the occasion of his swearing in as Chief Justice of Australia in well-
known words34:

close adherence to legal reasoning is the only way to

maintain the confidence of all parties in Federal conflicts. It
may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic.
I should be sorry to think that it is anything else. There is no
safer guide to judicial decisions in great conflict than a strict
and complete legalism.
However, the judicial activist or judicial realist accepts a wider
role for judges in making the law. This approach acknowledges a
greater ambit for judicial discretion and flexibility in a common law
system by accepting that enduring community values and policy choices
should be expressly acknowledged when judges are formulating legal

33
M D Kirby, "Judicial Activism: Power Without Responsibility? No,
Appropriate Activism Conforming to Duty" (2006) 30 Melbourne
University Law Review 576.
34
Swearing in of Sir Owen Dixon as Chief Justice (1951) 85 CLR xi,
per Dixon CJ at xiv.
 14.

rules. Examples of Australian decisions that have been criticized35, as

the product of so-called judicial activism, include the development of an
implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication36, the
reversal of the accepted doctrine of terra nullius and acceptance of the
continued existence of rights to native title in the Aboriginal peoples of
Australia37, and the acceptance of the effective right of an indigent
person to legal representation in a trial for a serious criminal offence as
an essential element of the right to a fair trial38.

This constant tension between continuity and change the law is

reflected in debates about the appropriate application of precedent. In
the 2003 Hamlyn Lectures, I said, in words to which I adhere39:

Somewhere between the spectre of a judge pursuing

political ideas of his or her own from the judicial seat
irrespective of the letter of the law, and the unrealistic

35
See eg J D Heydon, "Judicial Activism and the Death of the Rule of
Law", (2003) 23 Australian Bar Review 110; J Gava, "The Rise of
the Hero Judge", (2001) 24 University of New South Wales Law
Journal 747 at 748.
36
Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd v The Commonwealth (1992)
177 CLR 106; Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Wills (1992) 177 CLR 1;
Theophanous v The Herald & Weekly Times Ltd (1994) 182 CLR
104; Stephens v West Australian Newspapers Ltd (1994) 182 CLR
211.
37
Mabo v Queensland (No. 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1; Wik Peoples v
Queensland (1996) 187 CLR 1.
38
Dietrich v The Queen (1992) 177 CLR 292.
39
M.D. Kirby, Judicial Activism: Authority, Principle and Policy in the
Judicial Method (The Hamlyn Lectures, 55th Series) (2004).
 15.

mechanic deified by the strict formalists, lies a place in

which real judges perform their duties: neither wholly
mechanical nor excessively creative.

It is probably fair to conclude that the High Court of Australia is

less rigid in its approach to the application of the principle of stare
decisis that it was in earlier times40. The reasons for this change are
complex and identifying all of them would be beyond the scope of this
note. They would include the removal of appeals to the Privy Council;
the special principles observed in constitutional cases; the greater
willingness to re-examine old precedents and to seek coherence in
common law doctrine for Australia41; and the advent of judges impatient
with formalism and minimalism and concerned to ensure, so far as
possible, the justice of legal rules according to contemporary values. If
this means that such judges will be accused of "getting in touch with
their feelings"42, they will just have to wear the sobriquet.

THE APPLICATION OF PRECEDENT IN STATE SUPREME COURTS

The High Court of Australia has stated that where a ratio

decidendi exists in the reasoning of one of its decisions, it is not
permissible for any other Australian court, whether in an appeal or at

40
J L Pierce, Inside the Mason Court Revolution: The High Court of
Australia Transformed, (Carolina Academic Press, 2006), 73-79.
41
eg Burnie Port Authority v General Jones Pty Ltd (1984) 179 CLR
520; Brodie v Singleton Shire Council (2001) 206 CLR 512.
42
J L Pierce, above n 40, 156.
 16.

trial, to ignore, doubt or qualify the rule so stated. The rule may be
analysed and, where thought appropriate, elaborations suggested or
distinctions upheld. But the legal duty of obedience requires that it must
be followed and applied43.

Whilst State Supreme Courts are bound by authoritative rulings on

legal questions appearing in majority opinions of the High Court differing
views have been stated as to whether such courts will be bound by their
own decisions. The majority of intermediate appellate courts in Australia
reserve to themselves the right to reconsider their own earlier decisions,
although they will normally not do so unless satisfied that the earlier
decision was manifestly wrong. This appears to be the accepted
position of the Federal Court of Australia and the majority of State
appellate courts44.

DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGIES AND PRECEDENT

One development which has had an enormous effect on the use

of precedent in Australia, yet one that is often ignored is the creation of

43
Garcia v National Australia Bank Ltd (1998) 194 CLR 395 at 403,
[17]; contrast 418, [57]-[59].
44
See Nguyen v Nguyen (1990) 169 CLR 245, per Dawson, Toohey
and McHugh JJ at 268-269. The only State in which there appeared
to be any doubt was Western Australia, see Transport Trading and
Agency Co of WA Ltd v Smith (1906) 8 WAR 33. However, the
isolation of that decision, and the creation of a new Court of Appeal
for Western Australia, makes the former approach seem outdated
and out of line with the common Australian practice.
 17.

the internet. The proliferation of legal databases on the internet has had
a significant impact on the conduct of legal research. Millions of judicial
precedents are now available at a touch of a keyboard.

There is an obvious distinction between quantity and

quality. The old rule that legal authority should only be cited with care is
even more relevant in the electronic age. The contemporary challenge
for lawyers and judges in common law countries is how to best use the
increasing accessibility of precedent to strengthen legal analysis and the
just development of the law, without being swamped by the sheer
quantity of legal information that is now at our finger-tips. Discernment
and the exercise of judgment in the selection of specially useful judicial
reasons from courts outside the governing hierarchy are essential lest
the use of such precedents be debased and the user criticised for
"cherry picking" amongst judicial authority until a favourable case turns
up45.

THE GROWING USE OF INTERNATIONAL PRECEDENTS

The impact of internet legal research tools can be illustrated by

reference to the widening range of comparative law materials being
employed by advocates appearing before Australian courts. The

45
This is a criticism voiced by Judge Richard Posner, see R Posner,
"Could I Interest You in Some Foreign Law? No Thanks, We
Already Have Our Own Laws", [2004], August, Legal Affairs 40.
 18.

sources of comparative materials is gradually widening in Australia

beyond traditional references to English law. During my judicial service
over thirty years, it has extended to new sources from jurisdictions
across the world46.

The use of international legal materials is sometimes a

contentious issue in Australia, particularly in the context of using such
materials in constitutional interpretation and in relation to basic human
rights. The decision of the High Court of Australia in Al-Kateb v
Godwin47 provides a clear example of the different judicial attitudes to
this issue. The opposing viewpoints in this debate were expressed
through the reasons respectively of Justice McHugh and myself. There
are parallels between that case and the similar debates in the Supreme
Court of the United States in Atkins v Virginia48 and Lawrence v Texas49.

THE SHIFT TO STATUTE LAW

46
See eg use of foreign decisions, including from civil law jurisdictions,
in the reasoning of the High Court on the international question of
so-called wrongful birth: Cattanach v Melchior (2003) 215 CLR 1 at
51 [132].
47
(2004) 219 CLR 562.
48
536 U.S. 304 (2002), at 316-321; contrast at 347-348, per Scalia J.
49
539 U.S. 558 (2003), at 576-577; contrast at 586, per Scalia J. See
also "The Relevance of Foreign Legal Materials in US Constitutional
Cases: A Conversation Between Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice
Stephen Breyer", (2005) 3 International Journal of Constitutional
Law 519; M D Kirby, "International Law The Impact on National
Constitutions" (2006) 21 American University International Law
Journal 327.
 19.

Probably the most significant change in the law that has occurred
in recent times, relevant to the operation of the doctrine of precedent in
Australia, has been the shift towards statute law. The common law
today operates in an orbit of statute law50. This, of itself, has
consequences for the content of the common law that are still being
worked out51.

A judicial interpretation of a particular statutory provision, given by

a court superior in the hierarchy of courts, will bind the courts below to
apply the same meaning to the words in question. If the same
expression appears in a different statute, courts bound by the earlier
ruling will ordinarily seek to apply similar principles to the new setting.
However, strictly speaking, the binding rule of the earlier authority will be
specific to the words of the legislative text with which that authority dealt.
As a matter of precedent it will not bind a court to apply the same
construction to different legislation, however much it may be prudent for
the court to do so for reasons of logical consistency.

50
Gray v Motor Accident Commission (SA) (1998) 196 CLR 1 at 12-13
[33], 27 [83], 45_47 [128]-[130]; Brodie v Singleton Shire Council
(2001) 206 CLR 512 at 602 [231]; Pilmer v Duke Group Ltd (2001)
207 CLR 165 at 230 [170]; Batistatos v Road Traffic Authority
(NSW) (2006) 80 ALJR 1100 at 1132 [173].
51
Cotogno v Lamb [No 3] (1986) 5 NSWLR 559 at 568-570; Lamb v
Cotogno (1987) 164 CLR 1 at 11-12; Kars v Kars (1996) 187 CLR
354 at 381-382; Gray v Motor Accident Commission (SA) (1998)
196 CLR 1 at 25 [80].
 20.

The new emphasis by the High Court of Australia upon the

importance of purpose and context in ascertaining legislative meaning52
means that the construction of a particular word or phrase, used in a
new context, will need to be reconsidered when presented in a later
case. It follows that the law of precedent, as it applies to legislative
texts, is bound to have less significance than in the statement of the
broad principles of the common law. Thus, the growth of the amount
and importance of legislation and subordinate legislation as sources of
law results in a correlative reduction in the significance of the doctrine of
precedent for the ascertainment of the law. In giving meaning to a
legislative text the necessary starting point, in every case, is the text
itself53 not what judges may have said on other texts or on the
principles of the common law that preceded the adoption of the text.

A reflection of this development can be seen in important

contemporary changes in legal education. In 2006 the Harvard Law
School voted to alter the way in which undergraduates have been
introduced to, and taught, law over more than a hundred years. During
this time, the Harvard Law School became famous for the case book

52
See eg Coco v The Queen (1994) 179 CLR 427 at 437; Durham
Holdings Ltd v New South Wales (2001) 205 CLR 339 at 415-416
[29]-[32]; Project Blue Sky Inc v Australian Broadcasting Authority
(1998) 194 CLR 355 at 381-382; M D Kirby, "Towards a Grand
Theory of Interpretation", (2003) 24 Statute Law Review 95 at 103.
53
Central Bayside General Practice Association v Commissioner of
State Revenue (Vic) (2006) 80 ALJR 1509 at 1528 [84] and cases
cited in fn 64.
 21.

method. Basic principles of law were taught by analysis of judicial

reasons and by a search for the ratio decidendi amongst the obiter dicta.
In fact, the case book method became the hallmark of legal education at
Harvard. It spread from there to other Law Schools in North America. In
the twentieth century, it then migrated to Australia. Many an academic
scholar made a name by publishing casebooks, reproducing judicial
reasons, interrupted by interlinear comments or criticisms offered by the
teacher of law concerned.

This methodology is now up for revision. Harvard Law School has

decided to abandon the case book method and to lay greater emphasis
on statute law and its interpretation. Statutory interpretation will become
a compulsory subject in the first year course. So will international law, to
reflect another important contemporary development in the law.

This recognition of the change in the practice of law in the United

States of America is bound to have consequences for legal education in
Australia for it has its origins in identical social phenomena: the growth
of legislation both in quantity and importance. However, the same
developments have relevance for the operation of the doctrine of
precedent. It seems likely, over the long term, that judge-made rules of
the common law will decrease in importance as statutory interpretation
predominates as the principal task of judges and practising lawyers. As
this happens, it seems inevitable that the role of precedent as the
essential tool for finding the law applicable to reasoning in legal
problems in society will diminish as legislation, subordinate legislation,
 22.

court rules, written instruments and international documents occupy

most of the time of lawyers.

MESSY BUT IT WORKS

Notwithstanding the foregoing developments, the doctrine of

precedent still continues to play an important role in the Australian legal
system. In many, perhaps most, cases, particularly those decided in trial
and intermediate courts, the identification and application of a binding
rule of legal precedent will ordinarily be decisive where a statute is not54.
There have, however, been changes in the use of precedent in Australia
over the past two decades. My purpose has been to describe the most
important of these changes.

Lawyers of the civil law tradition, and some common law

pracitioners, sometimes regard the discursive style of reasoning of
common law courts as messy, imprecise and unfocused; the presence
of dissenting opinions as destabilizing to the authority of the law; and the
doctrine of precedent as obscure in practice and seemingly optional in
application, at least in the higher courts55.

54
K M Hayne, "Letting Justice be Done Without the Heavens Falling",
(2001) 27 Monash University Law Review 12 at 17.
55
SD Smith, Law's Quandary (Harvard, 2004) at 55.
 23.

However, for those raised in the common law tradition as it

operates in Australia, the principles ordinarily work well, taken as a
whole. They give a measure of stability and predictability to the law,
without imposing hidebound inflexibility. They mean that the broad
contours of legal doctrine are generally known or fairly readily
discoverable. And if there is uncertainty, dissent and debate at the
edges, that is so because law is an attribute of the system of
government in a generally free and democratic society and is therefore
always in a process of evolution to some degree. It is in the nature of
that form of society that the content of law should be transparent
exposed to debate and criticism, including amongst the citizens
governed by it and by those who make or declare it. Like evolution in
nature, there are creative bursts, after which there are periods of
apparent consolidation and quiescence. At the moment, in Australia, we
are in the latter period. But from legal history we can be sure that the
next period of creativity lies somewhere ahead.
 AUSTRALIAN BAR REVIEW

PRECEDENT LAW, PRACTICE & TRENDS IN AUSTRALIA

The Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG