¹ Stephen, Ninian, ‘A Recollection of Geoffrey Sawer’ (1980) 11 Federal Law Review 261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Also as part of the 70th birthday tribute, see Cranston, Ross, ‘“Lawyer in the Social Sciences” — Geoffrey Sawer’ (1980) 11 Federal Law Review 263CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Schick, Anne, ‘Bibliography of the Works of Geoffrey Sawer 1935–1980’ (1980) 11 Federal Law Review 271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar As to Sir Ninian Stephen himself, see below n 64.

² Ninian Stephen, ‘War Crimes Trials and the Future’ (Speech delivered at the Inaugural Geoffrey Sawer Lecture, Centre for International and Public Law, The Australian National University, 21 May 1998).

³ In addition to the articles cited above nn 1 and 2, there are, as you would expect, multiple short bios and tributes: see, eg, Else-Mitchell, R, ‘Introduction’ in Zines, Leslie (ed), Commentaries on the Australian Constitution: A Tribute to Geoffrey Sawer (Butterworths, 1977) xixGoogle Scholar; ‘Geoffrey Sawer 1910–’ (1980) 11 Federal Law Review 259CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lindsay, Geoff and O'Connor, Rob (eds), ‘Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Sawer’ (1992) 66 Australian Law Journal 473Google Scholar; Nethercote, J R, ‘Sawer, Geoffrey’ in Galligan, Brian and Roberts, Winsome (eds), The Oxford Companion to Australian Politics (Oxford University Press, 2007)Google Scholar; Anthony Mason, ‘Geoffrey Sawer: The Priceless Professor’, The Canberra Times (Canberra) 21 December 1990, 7; Ninian Stephen, ‘Obituary: Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Sawer’, The Canberra Times (Canberra) 10 August 1996.

⁴ As I have observed elsewhere, the telescoping of time in any biography, full length or not, ‘cannot do justice to the complexities, cross-currents, subjectivity and diversity in the interaction between self and others. It is one person's prism through which the sprawling chaos of human affairs is artificially refracted. It is art rather than life’: Michael Coper, ‘Sensitive Insights into the Life of an Intellectual Achiever’, The Canberra Times (Canberra) 3 March 1993, 15. As Inga Clendinnen nicely put it, ‘we are about to enter the hall-of-mirrors world of the biographer and the biographee’: Inga Clendinnen, ‘In Search of the “Actual Man Underneath:” AW Martin and the Art of Biography’ (Pandanus Books, 2004) 16. Even autobiography (as to which see below n 5) is referred to by Clendinnen as ‘a constructed narrative, endlessly redrafted as experience is interpreted and incorporated’: at 21.

⁵ In the narrative that follows, I rely to a considerable extent on Geoffrey Sawer's own autobiographical writings and recollections: see especially Geoffrey Sawer, Papers of Geoffrey Sawer (National Library of Australia, June 2000) (‘The Sawer Papers’). See generally National Library of Australia, Guide to the Papers of Geoffrey Sawer (June 2000) <http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/2688.html>. There are also oral history interviews from 1971–2 (Mel Pratt), 1982 (Ian Hamilton), 1990 (Daniel Connell) and 1995 (John Farquharson). My thanks to the Sawer family for giving me permission to access the otherwise restricted diaries and autobiographical writings. As my narrative is constructed from multiple sources, I have not consistently pinpointed precise locations in The Sawer Papers or the oral history interviews for the source of my observations.

⁶ See SirMason, Anthony, ‘Griffith Court’ in Blackshield, Tony, Coper, Michael and Williams, George (eds), The Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia (Oxford University Press, 2001) 311.Google Scholar

⁷ Quick, John and Garran, Robert, The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth (Angus and Robertson, 1901)Google Scholar; Clark, Andrew Inglis, Studies in Australian Constitutional Law (Charles F Maxwell, 1901)Google Scholar; Moore, William Harrison, The Commonwealth of Australia (John Murray, 1902).Google Scholar For a good overview of Australia's leading constitutional commentators to 2001, see James Thomson, ‘Commentators and Commentary’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 113, 114.

⁸ Twain, Mark, Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World (American Publishing, 1898).Google Scholar

⁹ Indeed, the day after its perihelion (the time of its closest distance to earth): see Paine, Albert Bigelow, Mark Twain: A Biography (Harper, 1912).Google Scholar

¹⁰ History was to repeat itself. Geoffrey's younger brother Derek was to run away from home to join the AIF under an assumed name — Peter John Richards — at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.

¹¹ Daniel Connell, Interview with Geoffrey Sawer (Oral History Interview, 14 May and 4 June 1990) <http://www.anu.edu.au/emeritus/ohp/interviews/geoffrey_sawer.html>.

¹² Fitzhardinge, L F, ‘Hughes, William Morris (Billy) (1862–1952)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography (Melbourne University Press, 1966–) vol 9 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hughes-william-morris-billy-6761/text11689>.Google Scholar

¹³ See Graham, Morris, AB Piddington: The Last Radical Liberal (UNSW Press, 1995)Google Scholar; Morris Graham, ‘Piddington, Albert Bathurst’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 533; Michael Roe, ‘Piddington, Albert Bathurst (1862–1945)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 11 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/piddington-albert-bathurst-8043/text14027>.

¹⁴ Mel Pratt, Interview with Geoffrey Sawer (Oral History Interview, Canberra, 16 November 1971) <http://nla.gov.au/nla.oh-vn765219>.

¹⁵ For the background to the McCaughey bequest, see Peter Hohnen, ‘McCaughey, Sir Samuel (1835–1919)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 5 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mccaughey-sir-samuel-682/text6485>.

¹⁶ Geoffrey Serle, ‘Monash, Sir John (1865–1931)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 10 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/monash-sir-john-7618/text13313>.

¹⁷ Peter Balmford, ‘Ham, Wilbur Lincoln (1883–1948)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 9 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ham-wilbur-lincoln-6535/text11227>. See also Tony Blackshield, Michael Coper, Graham Fricke and Troy Simpson, ‘Counsel, Notable’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 160, 163.

¹⁸ See generally, both on this period and on the 1940s when Sawer taught there, John Waugh's excellent sesquicentenary history of Melbourne Law School: Waugh, John, First Principles: The Melbourne Law School 1857–2007 (Miegunyah Press, 2007).Google Scholar

¹⁹ See especially Leslie Zines, ‘Depression of the 1930s’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 206.

²⁰ Peter Bayne, ‘Evatt, Herbert Vere’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 251; G C Bolton, ‘Evatt, Herbert Vere (Bert) (1894–1965)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 14 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/evatt-herbert-vere-bert-10131/text17885>.

²¹ Michael Kirby, ‘McTiernan, Edward Aloysius’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 466; John Williams and Fiona Wheeler, ‘McTiernan, Sir Edward Aloysius (Eddie) (1892–1990)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 18 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mctiernan-sir-edward-aloysius-eddie-14854/text26039>.

²² Evatt had been a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, McTiernan a Labor member of both the New South Wales and Commonwealth Parliaments, including a stint as NSW Attorney-General. Sawer, Cf, Australian Federalism in the Courts (Melbourne University Press, 1967) 64–5.Google Scholar

²³ Ayres, Philip, Owen Dixon (Miegunyah Press, 2003)Google Scholar; Kenneth Hayne, ‘Dixon, Owen’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 218; Grant Anderson and Daryl Dawson, ‘Dixon, Sir Owen (1886–1972)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 14 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dixon-sir-owen-10024/text17671>.

²⁴ Troy Simpson, ‘Appointments That Might Have Been’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 23, 25; Ayres, Owen Dixon, above n 23, 58, 317 (sourced by Ayres to a 1977 conversation between Justice Windeyer and James Merralls QC).

²⁵ Graham Fricke, ‘Starke, Hayden Erskine’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 637; J D Merralls, ‘Starke, Sir Hayden Erskine (1871–1958)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 12 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/starke-sir-hayden-erskine-8629/text15077>.

²⁶ Zelman Cowen, ‘Isaacs, Isaac Alfred’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 359; Cowen, Zelman, Isaac Isaacs (Melbourne University Press, 1967)Google Scholar; Zelman Cowen, ‘Isaacs, Sir Isaac Alfred (1855–1948)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 9 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/isaacs-sir-isaac-alfred-6805/text11773>.

²⁷ See especially Zines, Leslie, ‘Social Conflict and Constitutional Interpretation’ (1996) 22 Monash University Law Review 195.Google Scholar

²⁸ Tony Blackshield, ‘Dismissal of 1975’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 212; Coper, Michael, ‘The Dismissal Twenty-Five Years On’ (2000) 11 Public Law Review 251.Google Scholar

²⁹ Tony Blackshield, ‘Murphy Affair’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 486.

³⁰ R v Carter; Ex Parte Kisch (1934) 52 CLR 221; R v Wilson; Ex Parte Kisch (1934) 52 CLR 234. The story of the events and circumstances surrounding this case is splendidly told by Nicholas Hasluck in ‘Kisch Case’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 396. See also Zogbaum, Heidi, Kisch in Australia: The Untold Story (Scribe Publications, 2004).Google Scholar

³¹ See above n 13.

³² Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth (1951) 83 CLR 1.

³³ Winterton, George, ‘The Significance of the Communist Party Case’ (1992) 18 Melbourne University Law Review 630Google Scholar; George Williams, ‘Communist Party Case’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 122.

³⁴ See R v Fletcher; Ex Parte Kisch (1935) 52 CLR 248; R v Dunbabin; Ex Parte Williams (1935) 53 CLR 434.

³⁵ Robin Gollan, ‘Baracchi, Guido Carlo Luigi (1887–1975)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 13 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/baracchi-guido-carlo-luigi-9422/text16563>. See also another biography of Baracchi: Sparrow, Jeff, Communism: A Love Story (Melbourne University Press, 2007).Google Scholar Baracchi's colourful life ended in December 1975, when he died of a heart attack at the age of 88 while campaigning for the re-election of the sacked Whitlam government.

³⁶ Barbara Dale, ‘Evatt, Mary Alice (1898–1973)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 14 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/evatt-mary-alice-10132/text17887>.

³⁷ See Kenneth Hayne, ‘Menzies, Douglas Ian’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 475; John Williams, ‘Menzies, Sir Douglas Ian (1907–1974)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 15 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/menzies-sir-douglas-ian-11109/text19779>.

³⁸ Wolfe v Shelley (1581) 1 Co Rep 93b; 76 ER 206.

³⁹ This was later to be the subject of one of Sawer's most incisive pieces of analysis in Geoffrey Sawer, Australian Federalism in the Courts, above n 22. See especially: at 121–38, 198–204. This book is discussed in more detail below.

⁴⁰ This recollection is also noted in Waugh, above n 18, 102.

⁴¹ Jack Richardson, ‘Bailey, Sir Kenneth Hamilton (1898–1972)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 13 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bailey-sir-kenneth-hamilton-9404/text16529>.

⁴² J R Poynter, ‘Paton, Sir George Whitecross (1902–1985)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 18 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/paton-sir-george-whitecross-15033/text26230>.

⁴³ R Else-Mitchell, above n 3, xxi–xxii. Sydney was to change, of course, with the arrival of Julius Stone in the 1940s (and in due course to regard Melbourne as the bastion of conservatism): see below nn 71, 151.

⁴⁴ Kathleen Fitzpatrick, ‘Scott, Sir Ernest (1867–1939)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 11 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-sir-ernest-8367/text14683>.

⁴⁵ J R Poynter, ‘Wheare, Sir Kenneth Clinton (1907–1979)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 16 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wheare-sir-kenneth-clinton-12005/text21527>.

⁴⁶ Patrick Buckridge, ‘Pearl, Cyril Altson (1904–1987)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 18 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pearl-cyril-altson-15048/text26246>.

⁴⁷ Pearl, Cyril, Wild Men of Sydney (Cheshire-Lansdowne, 1958).Google Scholar

⁴⁸ See the final paragraph of Stuart Macintyre, ‘Latham, Sir John Greig (1877–1964)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 10 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/latham-sir-john-greig-7104/text12251>. A career of outstanding promise was cut short when, in 1943, the 34-year-old Richard Latham was lost in action during the Second World War.

⁴⁹ He evidently considered undertaking a doctorate around 1936, but the idea came to nothing: see Waugh, above n 18, 138.

⁵⁰ Tony Blackshield and Robin Sharwood, ‘Fullagar, Richard Kelsham’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 288; R L Sharwood, ‘Fullagar, Sir Wilfred Kelsham (1892–1961)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 14 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fullagar-sir-wilfred-kelsham-10258/text18123>.

⁵¹ The case is reported as Ryan v Bright (1939) 62 CLR 95. Sawer appeared for the plaintiff/appellant owner of certain cattle, seeking their return from a pound keeper, who had recaptured them following their escape from the pound. The case involved some quite ancient law, and Sawer thought it ironic that the case pitted a young modernist tearaway (himself) — who thought (and taught his students) that judges should keep the law in touch with contemporary needs — arguing for adherence to ancient precedent laid down in feudal times, against a conservative defender of the common law (the eminent Tom Smith) arguing for a practical, contemporary approach (which the court took). Sawer's advocacy, although unsuccessful, had been commented upon favourably by the Victorian Supreme Court; it was also well received in the High Court, although unsuccessful again on appeal. Rich J commented that Sawer's argument illustrated ‘the care and ingenuity with which the appellant's case was conducted rather than its inherent strength’: at 104.

⁵² R L Sharwood, ‘Norris, Sir John Gerald (1903–1990)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 18 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/norris-sir-john-gerald-14998/text26187>.

⁵³ Pratt, above n 14.

⁵⁴ A British Commonwealth journal of international affairs, founded in 1910 and still going strong: see The Round Table <http://www.moot.org.uk/>.

⁵⁵ This quote comes from an outline Sawer wrote for his uncompleted and unpublished autobiography: Geoffrey Sawer, ‘A Partly Reliable Memoir’ in The Sawer Papers, above n 5, series 18 folders 2–4.

⁵⁶ McInnes, Graham, Humping My Bluey (Hamish Hamilton, 1966).Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Bank of NSW v Commonwealth (1948) 76 CLR 1 (High Court); Commonwealth v Bank of NSW (1949) 79 CLR 497 (Privy Council).

⁵⁸ Peter Ryan, ‘Ball, William Macmahon (1901–1986)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 17 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ball–william–macmahon–12166/text21801>; Kobayashi, Ai, W Macmahon Ball: Politics for the People (Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2013).Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Sawer notes in his autobiography outline, ‘Had a beaut war, some twinges of conscience over Derek in Tobruk and my easy life, or Derek in Bougainville later, but on the other hand sure that if I had rejoined the 39th battalion I would have been killed on the Kokoda Trail to no one's particular advantage’: above n 55.

⁶⁰ Ibid. Friedmann went on to become a highly respected scholar and teacher of international law at Columbia University in New York. In 1972, he was robbed, and, resisting, stabbed to death, on the streets of New York, just three blocks from the Columbia University campus — two weeks after condemning senseless violence at the funeral of one of his students, who had been killed in the Munich Olympic Games terrorist attack: see McGill, William J, ‘Memorial Service for Professor Wolfgang G Friedmann’ (1972) 72 Columbia Law Review 1136.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Ian Holloway, ‘Aickin, Keith Arthur’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 15.

⁶² Cowen, Zelman, A Public Life: The Memoirs of Zelman Cowen (Miegunyah Press, 2006).Google Scholar

⁶³ Cecily Close, ‘Derham, Sir David Plumley (1920–1985)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 17 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/derham–sir–david–plumley–12414>.

⁶⁴ Ayres, Philip, Fortunate Voyager: The Worlds of Ninian Stephen (Miegunyah Press, 2013)Google Scholar; McCormack, Timothy LH and Saunders, Cheryl (eds), Sir Ninian Stephen: A Tribute (Miegunyah Press, 2007)Google Scholar; Hilary Charlesworth, ‘Stephen, Ninian Martin’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 643.

⁶⁵ Also Ken Bailey's son Peter Bailey, who, after a distinguished career in the Commonwealth Public Service, continues to have an outstanding career as an Adjunct Professor at the ANU College of Law.

⁶⁶ Sawer, Geoffrey, A Guide to Australian Law for Journalists, Authors, Printers and Publishers (Melbourne University Press, first published 1949, 1984 ed).Google Scholar

⁶⁷ See AustLit, Melbourne University Press <http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A36910>

⁶⁸ Sawer, Geoffrey, Australian Government Today (Melbourne University Press, 1^st ed 1948, 14^th ed 1980).Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Sawer, Geoffrey (ed), Cases on the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia (Law Book, 1948).Google Scholar The second edition was published in 1957; the third edition in 1964, with two cumulative supplements published respectively in 1970 and 1973; and the fourth and last edition in 1982, though without Sawer's participation: see Zines, Leslie and Lindell, G J (eds), Sawer's Australian Constitutional Cases (Law Book, 1982).Google Scholar Interestingly, Zines and Lindell adopted not the long title but the shorthand title of the book, as I do in the text above; the shorthand title had, from the first edition, appeared on the spine.

⁷⁰ Now the Australasian Law Teachers Association ('ALTA’).

⁷¹ The first meeting of AULSA was held in Sydney in 1946, but according to Sawer there was little participation and interest from Sydney Law School, which was involved in its own ‘civil war'. Sawer had a high opinion of his Sydney contemporary Julius Stone (below n 152), but felt that his lack of engagement with AULSA in its early days was a product of his non–involvement in its foundation. On Julius Stone and his life and times, including the fraught politics of Sydney University in the 1940s, especially around Stone's appointment, see Star, Leonie, Julius Stone: An Intellectual Life (Oxford University Press, 1992)Google Scholar; Anthony Blackshield, ‘Stone, Julius (1907–1985)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 18 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stone–julius–15728/text26916>. See further below nn 151–3.

⁷² Waugh, above n 18, 176.

⁷³ Bank of NSW v Commonwealth (1948) 76 CLR 1 (High Court); Commonwealth v Bank of NSW (1949) 79 CLR 497 (Privy Council).

⁷⁴ Sawer found Evatt's draft to be ‘Draconian’, and doubts that it was ever put to the negotiators.

⁷⁵ Melbourne Corporation v Commonwealth (1947) 74 CLR 31.

⁷⁶ Sawer, Geoffrey, ‘Implication and the Constitution: Part I’ (1948) 4 Res Judicatae 15Google Scholar; Sawer, Geoffrey, ‘Implication and the Constitution: Part II’ (1949) 4 Res Judicatae 155.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ Or even ‘dare’: Sawer, Australian Federalism in the Courts, above n 22, 203.

⁷⁸ Sawer, ‘A Partly Reliable Memoir’, above n 55, ch 36, 4.

⁷⁹ (1988) 165 CLR 360. See especially Sawer, Australian Federalism in the Courts, above n 22, 174–95, 206–7.

⁸⁰ Pratt, above n 14.

⁸¹ Lord Justice Uthwatt, who had been born in Australia, and Lord Justice du Parcq.

⁸² See Susan Priest and George Williams, ‘Bank Nationalisation Case’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 52.

⁸³ Sawer was dismayed that the ‘puritanical’ Evatt crossed team member P D Phillips off his High Court appointment list on discovering that he had a mistress. Sawer's final disillusionment with Evatt came a few years later with Evatt's involvement in the Petrov Affair.

⁸⁴ Coper, Michael, Encounters with the Australian Constitution (CCH, 1987) 314.Google Scholar

⁸⁵ See Lacey, Nicola, A Life of HLA Hart: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream (Oxford University Press, 2004) 170, 206–7Google Scholar; Grayling, Anthony, Goulder, Naomi and Pyle, Andrew (eds), The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy (Continuum, 2006) 163CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Marshall, Graeme, ‘Wittgenstein in the Antipodes’ in Oppy, Graham and Trakakis, N N (eds), A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand (Monash University Publishing, 2010) 586.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Geoffrey Sawer, ‘A Happy April Memory of Dr Evatt’, The Canberra Times (Canberra) 13 April 1977. The comments on Cowen and Wheare are taken from Sawer, ‘A Partly Reliable Memoir’, above n 55, ch 37, 2.

⁸⁷ Commonwealth v Bank of NSW (1949) 79 CLR 497 (Privy Council).

⁸⁸ Marjorie Harper, ‘Copland, Sir Douglas Berry (1894–1971)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 13 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/copland–sir–douglas–berry–247/text17371>.

⁸⁹ A slightly different account is given in Jim Davidson, ‘Hancock, Sir William Keith (1898–1988)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 17 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hancock-sir-william-keith-460/text22673>. See also Foster, S G and Varghese, Margaret M, The Making of the Australian National University 1946–1996 (Allen & Unwin, 1996) 45–6.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ John Playford, ‘Hannan, Albert James (1887–1965)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 14 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hannan–albert–james–10415/text18459>.

⁹¹ The initial offer of Reader may have also reflected a belief in some quarters that law was not one of the major disciplines. This belief played out to influence the subsequent shape of the Research School of Social Sciences.

⁹² He said of Kelsen that, although in his (Sawer’'s) book Law in Society he later had a dig at Kelsen's obscurity, he found Kelsen more accessible in the flesh than in his prose.

⁹³ Then Dean of Harvard Law School, later Solicitor–General of the United States.

⁹⁴ Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

⁹⁵ Foster and Varghese, above n 89, 126–9.

⁹⁶ Ibid.

⁹⁷ Ibid 386.

⁹⁸ See National Archives of Australia, Before Office – Robert Hawke <http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/hawke/before–office.aspx>.

⁹⁹ Sawer gave Hawke one period of leave from the PhD candidature, but refused Hawke's request for a further period. Hawke was angry with this decision at the time, but when the two met again some 30 years later, Hawke apologised and conceded to Sawer that his decision had been right. See also D'Alpuget, Blanche, Hawke: The Early Years (Melbourne University Press, 2010) 107–8.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ See especially the numerous references to Sawer in Rhodes, R A W (ed), The Australian Study of Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar Just as he was a founder, in 1946, of the Australian Universities Law Schools Association, so Sawer was also a founder, in 1951, of the Australian Political Studies Association.

¹⁰¹ Sawer, Geoffrey, Australian Federal Politics and Law 1901–1929 (Melbourne University Press, 1956)Google Scholar; Sawer, Geoffrey, Australian Federal Politics and Law 1929–1949 (Melbourne University Press, 1963).Google Scholar

¹⁰² Sawer, Geoffrey, Law in Society (Oxford University Press, 1965).Google Scholar ‘I thoroughly enjoyed writing that book, since I felt free to fire off a few crackers’: Letter, from Geoffrey Sawer to John Barry, 21 March 1968 in The Sawer Papers, above n 6.

¹⁰³ Sawer, Australian Federalism in the Courts, above n 22.

¹⁰⁴ Sawer, Geoffrey, ‘Judicial Administration: The Subject and Some Applications’ (1965) 8 Journal of the Society of Public Teachers of Law 30, 30–1.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ For a guide to Nancy's own literary works (as Nancy Parker and Nancy Sawer), see AustLit, Nancy Sawer <http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A48657>; Trove, Parker, Nancy (1913–) (2014) National Library of Australia <http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/1459714>; Trove, Sawer, Nancy (2014) National Library of Australia <http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/1459715>.

¹⁰⁶ Foster and Varghese, above n 89, 144–59.

¹⁰⁷ Sawer held many senior positions during his career at the ANU, including Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 1975. He was also President of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia (ASSA) in the early 1970s. His skill in handling difficult issues is noted in Ajani, Judith, Forest Wars (Melbourne University Press, 2007) 85.Google Scholar She refers, in particular, to his intervention in 1973 to prevent the attempted censorship of a pioneering book that helped spark the environmental movement: Routley, Richard and Routley, Val, The Fight for the Forests (Australian National University, 1973).Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ Sawer, Geoffrey, Federation Under Strain: Australia 1972–1975 (Melbourne University Press, 1977).Google Scholar

¹⁰⁹ A W Martin, ‘Menzies, Sir Robert Gordon (Bob) (1894–1978)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 15 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/menzies-sir-robert-gordon-bob-11111/text19783>; Sheila Tilse, ‘Keane, Francis Charles Patrick (1901–1971)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 14 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/keane–francis-charles-patrick-10662/text18949>.

¹¹⁰ Comcare v PVYW [2013] HCA 41.

¹¹¹ Geoffrey Sawer, ‘Thoughts on a Yeasty Topic’, The Canberra Times (Canberra) 10 December 1987, 2.

¹¹² See, eg, Stephen, ‘Obituary: Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Sawer’, above n 3.

¹¹³ See Australian National Data Service, Judicially Speaking: An Oral History of the High Court of Australia <http://researchdata.ands.org.au/judicially-speaking-an-oral-history-of-the-high-court-of-australia>.

¹¹⁴ Here is an extract from the longer Carmina Canberriensia, his take on the reluctance in some quarters to continue the search for a Director of the ANU Research School of Social Sciences once Hancock had turned it down: ‘A Director? Don't be crazy, the bastards cost a lot. They're a waste of dough if lazy and a menace if they're not'. This was cited by ANU Chancellor Gareth Evans in his ANU College of Law 50th Anniversary Alumni Dinner speech in 2010, together with another poem, On Discovering Two Scribbling Strangers in Attendance at a Joint Seminar. Evans also described Sawer as ‘hugely influential’ on him. See Gareth Evans, ‘50 Years On: The ANU Law School’ (Speech delivered at the ANU College of Law 50^th Anniversary Alumni Dinner, Canberra, 1 October 2010) <http://about.anu.edu.au/__documents/council/chancellor/anulaw50thalumni.pdf>. The cited verse and other extracts are also quoted in Foster and Varghese, above n 89, 126.

¹¹⁵ See Zelman Cowen, ‘Latham, John Greig’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 419; Cowen, Zelman, Sir John Latham and Other Papers (Oxford University Press, 1965).Google Scholar

¹¹⁶ There are different versions of this incident, which needs to be pieced together from diverse sources, but the most reliable, relying on university archives, is probably Waugh, above n 18. See also Humphrey McQueen, Constitution: High Court and Sawer's Points <http://www.surplusvalue.org.au/McQueen/const/constit_sawerspoints.htm>, citing National Library of Australia, Papers of Sir John Latham <http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms1009>; Saunders, Cheryl, ‘The Uniform Income Tax Cases’ in Lee, H P and Winterton, George (eds), Australian Constitutional Landmarks (Cambridge University Press, 2003) 62, 74, n 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹¹⁷ Sawer, Australian Federalism in the Courts, above n 22, 134.

¹¹⁸ Ross McMullin, ‘Ward, Edward John (Eddie) (1899–1963)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography, above n 12, vol 16 <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ward-edward-john-eddie-11959/text21435>. Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 30 September 1958 (Edward Ward).

¹¹⁹ See generally above n 5.

¹²⁰ See Sawer, Geoffrey, ‘The Judgments of Sir John Barry’ in Morris, N and Perlman, M (eds), Law and Crime: Essays in Honour of Sir John Barry (Gordon & Breach, 1972) 3.Google Scholar

¹²¹ Sawer, Cases on the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, above n 69.

¹²² See, eg, these celebrated Latham quotes: ‘When I die, section 92 will be found written on my heart’ (‘The Chief Justice of the High Court: Retirement of Sir John Latham’ (1952) 26 Australian Law Journal 2)Google Scholar; ‘We must reconcile ourselves to indefinite controversy and litigation about the word “free” — one of the most highly ambiguous words in the language’ (J G Latham, ‘Changing the Constitution’ (1953) 1 Sydney Law Review 14, 28)Google Scholar; ‘I admit that I regard section 92 as the curse of the Constitution. It has been a boon to lawyers and to roadhauliers and to people who want to sell skins of protected animals or to trade in possibly diseased potatoes’ (J G Latham, ‘Book Reviews’ (1957) 1 Melbourne University Law Review 266, 271–2).Google Scholar

¹²³ The Sawer Papers, above n 5, series 2.

¹²⁴ Cf below n 156.

¹²⁵ This was acted upon by Tasmania: Dickenson's Arcade Pty Ltd v Tasmania (1974) 130 CLR 177, though with only superficial success: see Coper, Encounters with the Australian Constitution, above n 84, 231. Sawer first made the suggestion at a conference in 1972: Else-Mitchell, above n 3, xxi.

¹²⁶ My summary of these events is based on correspondence in The Sawer Papers, above n 5, series 2.

¹²⁷ See also Hocking, Jenny, Gough Whitlam: His Time (Miegunyah Press, 2012) 304–5.Google Scholar Hocking leaves Mason's participation in the group ambiguous, whereas the correspondence makes it clear that, whatever personal contact he may have had with Sir John Kerr, Mason withdrew from the ANU discussion group as early as May 1975. As to Mason's private contact with Kerr, see Sir Anthony Mason, ‘It Was Unfolding Like a Greek Tragedy’, Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney) 27 August 2012 <http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/it-was-unfolding-like-a-greek-tragedy-20120826-24ubh.html>.

¹²⁸ As to our subsequent personal contact, see below n 172.

¹²⁹ As a more senior colleague said to me at the time, ‘Why do you young turks see everything as a “crisis“?!'.

¹³⁰ Anderson's Pty Ltd v Victoria (1964) 111 CLR 353. Section 90 of the Constitution prohibits the States from levying excise duties.

¹³¹ Subsequently published as Coper, Michael, ‘The High Court and Section 90 of the Constitution’ (1976) 7 Federal Law Review 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Leslie Zines, who was at my presentation, teases me about the origins of this article to this day.

¹³² I regard myself as fortunate to have been the beneficiary of not one but two reviews by Geoffrey Sawer of my book, Encounters with the Australian Constitution, above n 84: see Geoffrey Sawer, ‘One Act of Parliament Does Have a Suggestion of Fun: A Good Effort at Making Constitutional Law Readable’, The Canberra Times (Canberra) 8 October 1987, 2; Sawer, Geoffrey, ‘The Australian Constitution’ (1988) 32(9) Quadrant 54.Google Scholar

¹³³ See, eg, Sawer, Geoffrey, ‘Book Review’ (1980) 11 Federal Law Review 452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³⁴ See Michael Kirby, ‘Jack Richardson, The First and Perfect Commonwealth Ombudsman’ (Speech delivered at the Jack Richardson Memorial Lecture, National Portrait Gallery Canberra, 12 September 2012) <http://www.michaelkirby.com.au/images/stories/speeches/2000s/2012/2627%20-%20speech%20-%20australian%20corporate%20lawyers%20assocaition%20act%20division%20-%20dla%20piper%20lawyers%20-%20jack%20richardson%20memorial%20lecture.pdf>

¹³⁵ Lane, P H, An Index-Digest with Table of Reported Cases in the Commonwealth Law Reports Volumes 1–127 (1903–1972) (Law Book, 1976)Google Scholar (‘Index-Digest to the Commonwealth Law Reports’).

¹³⁶ Richardson, J E, ‘Book Review’ (1977) 8 Federal Law Review 255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³⁷ See Ebury, Sue, The Many Lives of Kenneth Myer (Miegunyah Press, 2008) 296-7.Google Scholar

¹³⁸ Rae Else-Mitchell nicely described it as ‘an easy literary style — learned but not pompous, concise but not cryptic and authoritative but not condescending’: Else-Mitchell, above n 3, xx.

¹³⁹ Sawer, Geoffrey, Australian Federalism and the Courts (Melbourne University Press, 1967) 197Google Scholar: ‘Since a critic, like a constitutional judge, must have some general set of values, I should say that mine are roughly those implicit in Engineers — that the courts should handle constitutional doctrine so as to minimise the impact of judicial decision on parliamentary activity, and so as to facilitate the expansion of Commonwealth competence to keep pace with the integration of the Australian nation’.

¹⁴⁰ This is a comment on Sawer's legacy rather than a critical appraisal of his scholarship. As to the latter, see especially Cranston, Ross, ‘“Lawyer in the Social Sciences” – Geoffrey Sawer’ (1980) 11 Federal Law Review 263CrossRefGoogle Scholar, though this is more a comment on Sawer's Law in Society than his Australian Federalism in the Courts. A comprehensive critical appraisal would require a survey of the entire literature in which scholars, judges and others have engaged, explicitly and implicitly, with Sawer's ideas. Book reviews, too numerous to list, provide a direct form of engagement: see, eg, Brett, Peter, ‘Book Reviews: Law in Society’ (1966) 2 Federal Law Review 139CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Holmes, J D, ‘Book Reviews: Australian Federalism in the Courts’ (1968) 3 Federal Law Review 144CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Crisp, L F, ‘Book Reviews: Modern Federalism’ (1969) 3 Federal Law Review 305CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and a spate of reviews of Sawer, Geoffrey, Cases on the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia (Law Book, 2^nd ed, 1957)Google Scholar, such as J G Latham (1957) 1 Melbourne University Law Review 266; Friedmann, W, ‘Books’ (1957) 57 Columbia Law Review 1195CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Davies, M R R, ‘Book Reviews and Notices’ (1957) 6 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 711CrossRefGoogle Scholar; De Smith, S A, ‘Reviews’ (1957) 20 Modern Law Review 681Google Scholar; McWhinney, Edward, ‘Book Reviews’ (1958) 7 American Journal of Comparative Law 426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁴¹ See especially Sawer, Geoffrey, ‘The Legal Theory of Law Reform’ (1970) 20 University of Toronto Law Journal 183CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sawer, Geoffrey, ‘Who Controls the Law in Australia? Instigators of Change and the Obstacles Confronting Them’ in Hambly, A D and Goldring, J L (eds), Australian Lawyers and Social Change (Law Book, 1976) 118.Google Scholar Michael Kirby thinks that Sawer may have expected to have been appointed as inaugural Chair of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) when the young 35-year-old Kirby was appointed to that position in 1975: email .from Michael Kirby to Michael Coper. I have not yet come across any reference to this in The Sawer Papers, above n 5.

¹⁴² Successively in 1968 (High Court constitutional cases), 1975 (remaining High Court cases), and 1986 (remaining appeals from state courts): see Tony Blackshield, John Goldring and Michael Coper, ‘Privy Council, Judicial Committee of the’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 560.

¹⁴³ Appeal as of right was abolished in 1984: see David Jackson, ‘Leave to Appeal’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 425.

¹⁴⁴ See Peter Durack, ‘Canberra, Court's Move to’ in Blackshield, Coper and Williams (eds), above n 6, 80.

¹⁴⁵ Beginning with the appointment in 1987 of Mary Gaudron and continuing with the appointments of Susan Crennan (2005), Susan Kiefel (2007) and Virginia Bell (2009).

¹⁴⁶ Sawer, Australian Federalism in the Courts, above n 22. Sawer looked ahead to greater consultation on High Court appointments: at 36; moving to special leave: at 41; shorter oral and more written argument: at 45; to the decisions in A-G (Vic) (ex rel Black) v Commonwealth (1981) 146 CLR 559 (‘DOGS Case’): at 171; and Strickland v Rocla Concrete Pipes (1971) 124 CLR 468 (‘Concrete Pipes Case’): at 206; as well as being very critical of the then interpretation of s 92: at 174–95, 206–7. On the other hand, he was sceptical about the creation of a federal court: at 39; and the move of the High Court to Canberra (because it might dilute the constitutional bar): at 39; and, unsurprisingly, did not anticipate the decision in Kable v DPP (NSW) (1996) 189 CLR 51, 152. Of course, some criticisms have not been taken on board and would no doubt persist, such as his powerful analysis of the law relating to implied immunities: at 121–38, 204 (‘irrelevant exercises in judicial pedantry’, in the light of the potential use by the Commonwealth of its power to make grants to the states under s 96); and his call for greater collaboration in opinion writing: at 49–51.

¹⁴⁷ That all of the judges, actual and hypothetical, were ‘he’ was both fact and the style of the generation, but the sexist language does grate today.

¹⁴⁸ Former High Court Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason thought that, during his career at least, Sawer stood virtually alone in this respect: see Sir Anthony Mason, ‘Geoffrey Sawer: The Priceless Professor’, The Canberra Times (Canberra) 21 December 1990, 7. In a review of Zines, Leslie (ed), Commentaries on the Australian Constitution: A Tribute to Geoffrey Sawer (Butterworths, 1977)Google Scholar, Mason had earlier commented in 1977 that ‘Professor Sawer has no obvious disciple among Australian academic lawyers. Indeed, these essays make the point … in content, approach and style they derive their inspiration from a different source. Despite the frequent invocations of his name and the acknowledgement by the authors of the departing hero's pre-eminence, the essays generally exhibit a more sober approach to constitutional discussion’: Mason, Anthony, ‘Book Review’ (1977) 8 Federal Law Review 502, 506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar On the other hand, not all were comfortable with Sawer's more robust approach, especially his references to the ‘political’ dimension of judicial decision-making: see, eg, Holmes, J D, ‘Book Review’ (1968) 3 Federal Law Review 144CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ayres, Owen Dixon, above n 23, 66, 319.

¹⁴⁹ Notably Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd (1920) 29 CLR 129 (‘Engineers Case’), which greatly expanded the scope of Commonwealth legislative power, and W & A McArthur v Queensland (1920) 28 CLR 530, which, at least until 1936, liberated the Commonwealth from the constraints of s 92 of the Constitution.

¹⁵⁰ Sawer, Australian Federalism in the Courts, above n 22, 89–90.

¹⁵¹ Former Commonwealth Solicitor-General Gavan Griffith (a Melburnian) observed in 1997 that ‘the problem for those of us who came up from south of the Murray is that as soon as we cross it, we are met by Julius Stone going the other way. It is an ethos that we have to try to make up later in life’: Gavan Griffith, ‘A Commonwealth Perspective’ in Michael Coper and George Williams (eds), How Many Cheers For Engineers? (Federation Press, 1997) 118. Michael Kirby observed in 2007 that the breadth of John Barry was ‘the more remarkable because he had not had the advantage of instruction in jurisprudence by Julius Stone but was someone educated in the rather more rhetorical tradition of Melbourne of that time’: Michael Kirby, ‘Foreword’ in Mark Finnane, JV Barry: A Life (UNSW Press, 2007). On the other hand, Rae Else-Mitchell (from Sydney) said of Melbourne Law School in the 1930s, when Sawer was a student there, that ‘this was a period of stimulating influence in the University of Melbourne which manifested a spirit of liberal thought not equalled by other universities and law schools in Australia’: see Else-Mitchel, above n 3, xxi–xxii. Clearly, generalisations on these matters must be heavily qualified by time period, personal experience and vantage point.

¹⁵² See Coper, Michael, ‘Julius Stone: A Personal Reflection on his Influence Today’ (1997) 20 University of New South Wales Law Journal 253.Google Scholar Generally on the influence of Julius Stone, see Star, above n 71; Blackshield, Anthony, ‘The Legacy of Julius Stone’ (1997) 20 University of New South Wales Law Journal 215Google Scholar; Kirby, Michael, ‘Julius Stone and the High Court of Australia’ (1997) 20 University of New South Wales Law Journal 239Google Scholar; Goldring, John, ‘Remarks at the Julius Stone Symposium’ (1997) 20 University of New South Wales Law Journal 247Google Scholar; Irving, Helen, Mowbray, Jacqueline and Walton, Kevin (eds), Julius Stone: A Study in Influence (Federation Press, 2010)Google Scholar; Kirby, Michael, ‘A R Blackshield and Realism in Australian Constitutional Law’ (2013) 11 Macquarie Law Journal 8.Google Scholar

¹⁵³ Sawer himself was an admirer of Stone: above nn 71, 151–3. Sawer was convinced that Stone would have been offered the Chair of Law at the ANU ahead of him. Sawer wrote to Kirby about Stone in 1985, ‘[w]hat a hero of scholarship he is … [ever] struggling away — with new editions, new books, new awards’: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ‘Tribute to Emeritus Professor Julius Stone AO OBE QC’, The Law Report, 23 July 1985 (Michael Kirby) <http://www.michaelkirby.com.au/images/stories/speeches/1980s/vol15/583-ABC___Tribute_to_Emeritus_Professor_Julius_Stone.pdf>.

¹⁵⁴ See above nn 43, 151.

¹⁵⁵ As acknowledged by Sir Anthony Mason in ‘Geoffrey Sawer: The Priceless Professor’, The Canberra Times (Canberra) 21 December 1990, 7. For an admirably mature statement of the realities of constitutional interpretation, by both Mason and Stephen, see Queensland v Commonwealth (1977) 139 CLR 585, 603 (Stephen J), 606 (Mason J). To the effect that the question was not which view was correct or incorrect, but which was the better view, according to accepted principles of constitutional interpretation: see Michael Coper, ‘Concern About Judicial Method’ (2006) 30 Melbourne University Law Review 554, 559.

¹⁵⁶ Sawer, Australian Federalism in the Courts, above n 22, 152. Other observations that come to mind and are often quoted are that the joint judgment in the Engineers Case (the leading case with whose general thrust Sawer agreed) ‘is one of the worst written and organised in Australian judicial history’: at 130, and that ‘Dixon J disliked Engineers; its literary style set his teeth on edge, and he never mentioned it without a touch of asperity’: at 133.

¹⁵⁷ Ibid 31.

¹⁵⁸ Ibid 64–5.

¹⁵⁹ Ibid 57–9, 67–73, 196–7.

¹⁶⁰ Ibid 208.

¹⁶¹ See, eg, George Williams, ‘Thawing the Frozen Continent’ (2008) 19 Griffith Review 11; H P Lee and Peter Gerangelos (eds), Constitutional Advancement in a Frozen Continent: Essays in Honour of George Winterton (Federation Press, 2009).

¹⁶² See, eg, Dennis Crouch, Tracing the Quote: Everything that Can Be Invented Has Been Invented (6 January 2011) Patentlyo <http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2011/01/tracing-the-quote-everything-that-can-be-invented-has-been-invented.html>.

¹⁶³ For a general discussion of the notion of influence in this context, see Twining, William, Farnsworth, Ward, Vogenauer, Stefan and Tesón, Fernando, ‘The Role of Academics in the Legal System’ in Cane, Peter and Tushnet, Mark (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Legal Studies (Oxford University Press, 2003) 922Google Scholar; Duxbury, Neil, Jurists and Judges: An Essay on Influence (Hart Publishing, 2001).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁴ See Sawer, Geoffrey, Ombudsmen (Melbourne University Press, 1964).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁵ See above n 5.

¹⁶⁶ Sawer notes towards the end of his unfinished autobiographical memoir that his (second) wife Nancy complained that the memoir read too much like a travelogue and was too little a reflection on his professional work: Sawer, ‘A Partly Reliable Memoir’, above n 55. He most likely believed that his body of work stood and could be assessed on its own account.

¹⁶⁷ See James, Clive, Unreliable Memoirs (Pan Macmillan, 1980).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁸ Sawer, ‘A Partly Reliable Memoir’, above n 55.

¹⁶⁹ There is a hint in The Sawer Papers that, at an early age, he may well have been a left-hander coerced into being right-handed.

¹⁷⁰ This appears to be the 12th quatrain in Khayyam, Omar, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (Edward FitzGerald trans, 1^st ed, 1859).Google Scholar Although completely unrelated, Sawer's poetic sentiment in old age reminded me of the aging Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr's recall of Virgil. See White, G Edward, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: Law and the Inner Self (Oxford University Press, 1993) 456, 464CrossRefGoogle Scholar: ‘Death plucks at my ear and says “live, I am coming”’.

¹⁷¹ Stephen, ‘Obituary: Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Sawer’, above n 3.

¹⁷² Although I was never taught by Geoffrey Sawer, we often met at conferences in the 1970s and 1980s, we corresponded regularly (including, for example, in relation to my work at the Inter-State Commission and the High Court's landmark decision on s 92 of the Constitution in Cole v Whitfield), he reviewed my work (see Sawer, above n 133), and on a number of occasions he generously acted for me as a referee.