CURRENT ACTIVITIES

We are continuing to work on the case law of New South Wales from 1842, much of which is now online. We should complete 1842 within the first couple of months of 2007. This will be part of the larger project of publishing a volume of law reports, commencing with Cable v. Sinclair, 1788.

We have just published Dowling's Select Cases, 1828 to 1844: Decisions of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, which we intend to link more closely to the cases on this site.

PAST NEWS ITEMS

June 2006: We have continued placing online some newly uncovered cases concerning Aborigines. (See R. v. Hatherly, 1823. This is the first case we have published that was decided by the Court of Criminal Jurisdiction, which operated between 1788 and 1824.)

May 2006: Willis J. has a reputation for compassion towards Aborigines. We have just added a newly uncovered case of his, R. v. Bolden, 1841, which might lead us to reconsider our views of the judge.

April 2006: R v Ballard, 1829, an important decision on the autonomy of Aboriginal peoples, was cited by McPherson JA in Stevenson v Yasso [2006] QCA 40 at [85].

February 2005: we have now published a couple of 1843 Port Phillip District cases, from the New South Wales Supreme Court. They are Ailsa v Wilson, 1843 and Atkins v Manton, 1843.

April 2004: We have now published the surviving records of pre-1850 appeals from the Australian colonies to the Privy Council in London. Concentrating on the unreported decisions of the Privy Council, these records are taken from the office of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and from the National Archives in Kew, London.

April 2004: the 1841 cases are now online.

March 2004: we have put an important 1842 Aboriginal case from Western Australia online.

October 2003: we have now put the 1840 cases online.

August 2002: after a delay of about a year, the 1839 cases have now come online. They include R. v. Lamb, Toulouse and Palliser, 1839, which is the last of the Myall Creek cases.