Abstract: This essay takes the late Robert Cover's insight that set of institutions or prescriptions exists apart from the narratives that locate it and give it meaning, and thus that For every constitution there is an epic as the starting point for a reading of Australian and literary texts about the relationship of the nation and outsiders, as between constitutional subjects and texts. Ranging from legal faction texts Evil Angels (about the Dingo Baby case) and Dark Victory (about the Tampa incident) and Castle, Rob Sitch's filmic satire on the Australian takings clause and the landmark Native Title Decision, Mabo v. Queensland, No 2, to the recent High Court cases Al Kateb, Behrooz, Re Woolley, and Ruhan, it offers a critical account of recent Australian constitutional jurisprudence regarding asylum seekers and sexually violent predators. The essay argues that this recent High Court jurisprudence offers a radically circumscribed reading of Chapter III judicial power (analogous to Article III judicial power in the U.S. Constitutional context), and offers comparative constitutional law perspectives on problems in U.S. Constitutional hermeneutics.
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-11-07
Language: en
Type: article
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