A history of criminal law in New South Wales : volume 2: the new state, 1901-1955 / G. D. Woods.

Annandale, N.S.W. : Federation Press, 2018

1st edition

89244

Criminal law -- History -- Australia.

Criminal justice, Administration of -- History -- New South Wales.

1. New century, new state, old problems --2. The poisoned chalice of mercy --3. Not a code: the common law and the Queen's washerwoman

4. Mixed motives in Edwardian criminal laws: protection and control

5. "Too many seconds": TM Slattery and the law of theft

6. "A shilling an acre": the Crown Lands scandals 1905-1907 --7. A grudging step towards legal aid

8. The scorchers: taming the horseless carriage

9. Mixed motives again: the Aborigines Protection Act 1909

10. Criminal law and economics: the "leg-iron" election of 1910

11. Wing-collar crime: the coal vend, and big sugar

12. Age of consent: the girls' protection act, 1910

13. Trial and error: the criminal appeal act 1912

14. Making war and making crimes: 1914-1916

15. The grass parliament, and aftershocks: 1916-1920 --16. Some elections, Tom Bavin and a wedding law: 1920-1925 --17. John Latham and commonwealth crimes: saviour from subversion

18. Lang, Bavin, razors and reform

19. Hard times: depression and the state criminal law

20. Latham again, Menzies, and a popular Czech, 1932-1935

21. The right suspect, and sane

22. Craig, Davies and Cody: a dissent, and a caution

23. The golden thread and the golden threads

24. Two tall poppies: homosexuals and the courts between the wars

25. The musical policeman: illicit betting inquiries, 1936-1938

26. War again: regulations and resistance

27. A welcome occupation: Americans, police scandal and the courts

28. War from a magistrate's bench

29. Hardly treason: the case of Major Cousens

30. Justinian in khaki: CE Martin and the public defender

31. Police interrogation at mid-century: "realism", "sentiment" and an angry chief justice

32. More democratic juries, and the ladies' auxiliary

33. Cold war and hot words: sedition and Lance Sharkey, 1949

34. "Kiss-in-the-ring": State Crimes Act Amendments of 1951

35. "Reffos, Balts and Wogs": new Australians in the criminal courts, 1945-1955

36. The beer rebellion: Barwick and the fibbers

37. Police scrumdown, a royal distraction and the press barons

38. "Fallen among Christians": death penalty abolition, 1955.

New South Wales was from its origins uniquely connected with the criminal law. The second volume of A History of Criminal Law in New South Wales begins where the first volume left off in 1901 when the colony became a state. This is not simply a volume of technicalities and chronologies. Woods relates themes such as criminal punishment, the two World Wars, and the gradualism of change to the characters who inhabit the world of criminal practice, the courts and the gaols. John Norton and Paddy Crick are on the loose again for the first time since 1958, when Cyril Pearl immortalised them in Wild Men of Sydney. Riveting figures haunt these pages, such as Woolcott Forbes, the famous corporate fraudster of the 1930s and 1940s known in the press as "The Bullfighter"; a policeman with the improbable name of Mendelssohn Bartholdy Miller; and Major Charles Cousens, the plum-voiced prisoner-of-war and radio who faced charges of treason when he was returned to Australia at war's end. These and dozens of other characters (including notable judges, magistrates and practitioners) populate this continuation of the history of criminal law in New South Wales up to the mid-20th century when the death penalty was effectively abolishedition: Woods draws on his wide experience of the criminal law as an academic, law reformer, barrister and judge to describe the development of the law in its social, economic and political contexts. A History of Criminal Law in New South Wales is an essential and fascinating read for legal practitioners and historians. - Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

9781760021931

xvii, 878 pages ; 25 cm