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.

New century, new state, old problems

The poisoned chalice of mercy

Not a code: the common law and the Queen's washerwoman

Mixed motives in Edwardian criminal laws: protection and control

Too many seconds: TM Slattery and the law of theft

A shilling an acre: the Crown Lands scandals 1905-1907

A grudging step towards legal aid

The scorchers: taming the horseless carriage

Mixed motives again: the Aborigines Protection Act 1909

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

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

Age of consent: the girls' protection act, 1910

Trial and error: the criminal appeal act 1912

Making war and making crimes: 1914-1916

The grass parliament, and aftershocks: 1916-1920

Some elections, Tom Bavin and a wedding law: 1920-1925

John Latham and commonwealth crimes: saviour from subversion

Lang, Bavin, razors and reform

Hard times: depression and the state criminal law

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

The right suspect, and sane

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

The golden thread and the golden threads

Two tall poppies: homosexuals and the courts between the wars

The musical policeman: illicit betting inquiries, 1936-1938

War again: regulations and resistance

A welcome occupation: Americans, police scandal and the courts

War from a magistrate's bench

Hardly treason: the case of Major Cousens

Justinian in khaki: CE Martin and the public defender

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

More democratic juries, and the ladies' auxiliary

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

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

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

The beer rebellion: Barwick and the fibbers

Police scrumdown, a royal distraction and the press barons

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