Living Greatly in the Law

Hal Wootten's selected writings

Andrew Lynch, David Dixon

• Publisher: University of New South Wales Press
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781761179082
• Subtopic: Literary Essays
• Index: Literature

John Halden ' Hal' Wootten (1922-2021) – lawyer, legal academic and the founder of the UNSW Faculty of Law – made a major contribution to the law and public life in Australia. Wootten' s essays on the causes he felt passionately about, including the rights of First Nations peoples, press degradation, the future of legal education, climate change, the Palestinian tragedy, are as fresh and relevant today as when they were written. Wootten' s vision of what was important lead to a series of interesting jumps in his career, from barrister to law school dean to Supreme Court judge; from Royal Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to Chairman of the Australian Press Council. At all times he sought to ' live greatly in the law' – by his values and for those ' upon whom the law bears harshly' . In this edited collection of essays, speeches and unpublished work, David Dixon and Andrew Lynch present Wootten' s contribution to shaping a more just society.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Foreword
• 1: Introducing Hal
• 2: Principles, Vision and Action
• 3: Living Greatly in the Law
• 4: A New Law School
• 5: In an Ancient Land: Palestine and Israel
• 6: Judges, Lawyers, Evidence
• 7: Access to Law: Papua New Guinea and the Aboriginal Legal Service
• 8: The Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
• 9: Mabo, Native Title and Squandered Opportunities
• 10: Sacred Sites, The Stolen Generations and Looking Forward
• 11: Wilderness Values: Conservation and the Environment
• Acknowledgements
• Selected Publications by Hal Wootten
• Notes
• Index