Former high court judge examines legal ties across the Commonwealth

Before the break-up of the British Empire, the United Kingdom’s Privy Council acted as the final court of appeal for colonies across the Commonwealth.

As independence arrived, however, the power of the Privy Council receded as it was replaced with national or regional courts of final appeal.

In the latest edition of Commonwealth Law Bulletin, Michael Kirby, a retired Justice of the High Court of Australia, writes: “It would have been easy, in the twilight of Empire, for the legal links that pre-existed the Commonwealth, to disappear completely, to be replaced by purely nationalistic viewpoints or, perhaps, transferred allegiance to other great sources of law.”

Instead of this happening, five key considerations combined to save the Commonwealth from becoming legally separated, he argues.

These five, key considerations were:

1.) The common link of the English language, one of the most precious legacies of the empire.

2.) The habits of the past meant that similar reasoning could be used by different countries when ruling on cases.

3.) The Commonwealth Secretariat itself responded to the needs of member states to reinforce professional links by establishing associations of judges, magistrates and lawyers.

4.) The internet as a means of disseminating legal information and instantaneous reports of court decisions provided judges and lawyers throughout the Commonwealth with a broad spectrum of legal materials.

5.) New initiatives to share legal information amongst the worldwide family of independent courts and legal professionals, such as the Law Reports of the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Law Bulletin.

Mr Kirby’s full article is available in the Commonwealth Law Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 2 (June 2009). This issue of the Bulletin also reproduces the substantive Editorial Review 2008 of the Law Reports of the Commonwealth, which this year celebrate their twenty-fifth year of production, and during which the 100th volume of the series will appear.

Secretariat Links:

• Rule of Law
• Commonwealth Law Bulletin