Intellectual Influences on Australian Federalism

Nicholas Aroney – TC Beirne School of Law, U. of Queensland

This paper utilizes the Australian experience of federation, 1890–1901, as a vehicle for the discussion of the leading conceptions of federalism extant in the late nineteenth-century English-speaking world. In particular, the paper examines the federal theories of James Madison, James Bryce, Edward Freeman, Albert Dicey and John Burgess in the context of many others, and seeks to show that the idea of a ‘Commonwealth of commonwealths’, although controverted by contending theories, remained a central theme in late nineteenth-century conceptions of federalism.

Nicholas Aroney teaches constitutional law, comparative constitutional law and legal theory. He has published widely in these fields, including recent publications in University of Toronto Law Journal, The American Journal of Comparative Law, Law and Philosophy, Sydney Law Review and Melbourne University Law Review. He also speaks frequently at national and international conferences on these topics. Dr Aroney is the author of several books, including Freedom of Speech in the Constitution and The Constitution of a Federal Commonwealth: The Making and Meaning of the Australian Constitution, recently published by Cambridge University Press. He also recently edited a book entitled Restraining Elective Dictatorship: The Upper House Solution? published by University of Western Australia Press. He is currently working on three further books, The Jurisprudence of a Federal Commonwealth (Cambridge University Press), Shari’a in the West? (Oxford University Press) and Constitutional Federalism: Theory and Practice (Ashgate Press). Dr. Aroney came to the Law School in 1995 after working with a major national law firm and acting as a legal consultant in the field of building and construction law.

A light lunch will be provided.

Feb 9, 2010