Latest Lecture series Podcast Episodes
Sir Charles Lilley and the Grimley Affair
Selden Society lecture series Australia - March 11, 2024 00:00 - 53 minutesSir Charles Lilley (1827–97) was a towering figure in politics and law in colonial Queensland, but his final years were dogged by controversy. In October 1892, Sir Charles announced his intention to resign as second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland (1879–93). The catalyst was ...
Queensland Law Society: serving ‘conscientious, honest lawyers’
Selden Society lecture series Australia - October 08, 2023 09:00 - 1 hourA statement praising ‘conscientious honest lawyers’ was published in a Brisbane newspaper in 1874. At that time, the public image of lawyers—barristers, as well as solicitors—was poor. For decades Queensland Parliaments were inclined to agree. The creation of the incorporated Queensland Law Soci...
Mr Justice Harding—a titan of Queensland law
Selden Society lecture series Australia - July 18, 2023 14:00 - 30 minutesGeorge Rogers Harding (1838–1895) was the 5th Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland and is regarded as one of Queensland’s finest civil lawyers, whose rigorous analytical approach helped to establish the reputation of the Supreme Court. He is also known as one of Queensland’s most influentia...
Lord Denning
Selden Society lecture series Australia - May 11, 2023 14:00 - 52 minutesMany consider Lord Denning (1899–1999) to be the most important English judge of the 20th century. His witty and trenchant judgments are read by law students and cited by legal texts and lawyers in the United Kingdom as well as Australia, Canada and beyond. The Honourable James Douglas uses this...
Sir Frederick Jordan: Australia’s most influential judge?
Selden Society lecture series Australia - December 08, 2022 09:00 - 36 minutesSir Frederick Jordan served as Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1934–1949. His vigorous defence of the rule of law during World War II sometimes put him at odds with the governments of the day and the High Court of Australia, but his fiercely written judgments remain relevant and continue t...
Kidnapping and slavery in Queensland: the 'Jason' and the 'Hopeful'
Selden Society lecture series Australia - September 30, 2022 00:00 - 1 hourIn our latest episode, Dr Andrew Stumer and Professor Emeritus Kay Saunders AO examine two Queensland criminal cases from the late 19th century. With the rapid expansion of sugar production in Queensland in the second half of the 19th century, new sources of labour were sought. In 1871, the S...
Kidnapping and slavery in Queensland: the 'Jason' and the 'Hopeful'
Selden Society lecture series Australia - September 30, 2022 00:00 - 1 hourIn our latest episode, Dr Andrew Stumer and Professor Emeritus Kay Saunders AO examine two Queensland criminal cases from the late 19th century. With the rapid expansion of sugar production in Queensland in the second half of the 19th century, new sources of labour were sought. In 1871, the S...
Making law through practice: examples from commercial law
Selden Society lecture series Australia - July 28, 2022 13:00 - 39 minutesSir Ross Cranston will draw on themes in his recent book, Making commercial law through practice 1830–1970 (Cambridge UP, 2021), emphasising the Australian dimension. He will examine three areas: markets, agency and sales, to show that although the common law provided the backdrop to commercial...
1922: after Ryan, the storm
Selden Society lecture series Australia - April 25, 2022 23:00 - 51 minutesTJ Ryan, as leader of Queensland’s first Labor government to have a majority in the lower house of state parliament, implemented wide‑ranging political, economic and social reforms in the face of opposition from the upper house and resistance from the Supreme Court of Queensland. After his un...
Justices of the US Supreme Court—Chief Justice John Marshall and the establishment of judicial review
Selden Society lecture series Australia - February 03, 2022 08:00 - 47 minutesDuring John Marshall’s long tenure as Chief Justice (1801-1835) a decision of particular importance was Marbury v Madison 5 US 137 (1803), in which Marshall CJ delivered the opinion of the court. The judgment established the key role of the Supreme Court in determining the constitutional validit...
Justices of the US Supreme Court—Chief Justice John Marshall and the establishment of judicial review
Selden Society lecture series Australia - February 03, 2022 08:00 - 47 minutesDuring John Marshall’s long tenure as Chief Justice (1801-1835) a decision of particular importance was Marbury v Madison 5 US 137 (1803), in which Marshall CJ delivered the opinion of the court. The judgment established the key role of the Supreme Court in determining the constitutional validit...
Merthyr House—the home of Sir Samuel Griffith
Selden Society lecture series Australia - December 07, 2021 03:00 - 37 minutesSir Samuel Griffith’s Brisbane home was a grand riverfront estate in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm. It was lavishly furnished with Chippendale furniture and Italian objets d’art and even included a high-ceilinged ballroom at its centre in which Sir Samuel and Lady Julia Griffith held their man...
Mrs Chester’s lost child: inconsolable psychological injury and Justice Evatt’s finest judgement
Selden Society lecture series Australia - September 19, 2021 03:00 - 1 hourAfter her ‘brilliant boy’ drowned in an unfenced trench in 1937, Mrs Chester took legal action against the local council. Although her claim would ultimately be unsuccessful, the dissenting and empathic judgment of Justice Evatt would mark a critical moment in Australian law and its approach to ...
BONUS CONTENT: Mrs Chester’s lost child: inconsolable psychological injury and Justice Evatt’s finest judgment
Selden Society lecture series Australia - September 19, 2021 02:00 - 8 minutesListen to a panel discussion between the Hon Justice Peter Applegarth AM, author Gideon Haigh and Associate Professor Kylie Burns that took place after the lecture 'Mrs Chester’s lost child: inconsolable psychological injury and Justice Evatt’s finest judgment'. This lecture was brought to you ...
Lord Eldon
Selden Society lecture series Australia - June 03, 2021 02:00 - 45 minutesMany leading equity texts and lawyers continue to quote Lord Eldon’s judgments. He is seen by many to be one of the most famous of the Chancery judges in equity law, as he systematised and bought certainty to its principles. Listen to Queensland barrister Andrew Stumer capture the interrelations...
Tiffany Momon & Victoria Hensley | Black Craftspeople Digital Archive
Polk's America - May 19, 2021 17:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsThe BCDA, a nationally-celebrated project changing the face of decorative arts and material culture scholarship, recently expanded the archive into Tennessee. Founders Dr. Tiffany Momon and Victoria Hensley share their research and the reasons why identifying and studying black craftspeople is s...
The audacity of Griffith as a law reformer
Selden Society lecture series Australia - April 26, 2021 22:00 - 35 minutesSir Samuel Griffith was undoubtedly the instigator of some of the greatest law reform moments in Queensland history. This lecture attempts to capture the most significant pieces of law reform for which he was singularly responsible for more than a quarter of a century. The range of subjects i...
Sally Givens | South Union Shaker Village
Polk's America - February 09, 2021 17:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsThe Shakers' American utopian experiment succeeded in creating an egalitarian culture contrary to societal norms in Polk's America. In 1807 the Shakers established a village in frontier KY that eventually would be home to over 300 followers. Curator and Educator Sally Givens introduces the peopl...
Justice Mary Gaudron
Selden Society lecture series Australia - February 04, 2021 05:00 - 45 minutesMary Genevieve Gaudron was the first woman to be appointed a justice of the High Court of Australia. Gaudron served on the Court as one of its most influential members for 16 years (1987–2003), and her career has been described as ‘a classic example of talent and industry triumphant over limited...
Alba Campo Rosillo | G. P. A. Healy's Portraits of the President
Polk's America - January 15, 2021 20:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsWhen U.S. artist George Peter Alexander Healy (1913-1894) painted the portrait of James Polk for the first time in 1846, the sitter was the President of the United States and residing at the White House. By the time that Healy painted Polk again in 1858, the President had already died. Alba Camp...
Katherine Hughes | David Drake and Edgefield Stoneware in Polk's America
Polk's America - December 16, 2020 16:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsIn the early 1800s, South Carolinian businesses used enslaved labor to create a booming stoneware pottery industry in the Edgefield District. The artistry and durability of this pottery created an enduring legacy reflective of the complex social issues of Polk’s America. Katherine Hughes brings ...
Private law’s revolutionaries: authors, codifiers and merchants?
Selden Society lecture series Australia - December 15, 2020 02:00 - 48 minutesHas there ever really been a revolution in private law, never mind the law of obligations? Professor Hector MacQueen addresses that question by considering the relationship between law and revolution. Read the paper. View the lecture. Support the show
Celebrating Samuel Griffith
Selden Society lecture series Australia - November 24, 2020 22:00 - 58 minutesTo mark our brand new exhibition, The many hats of Sir Samuel Griffith, our latest podcast features the Australian Academy of Law and Selden Society (Australia) webinar, Celebrating Samuel Griffith. The Hon Justice Peter Applegarth AM chairs a distinguished panel, exploring some of the intere...
Brenda Hornsby-Heindl | Creating the Kitchen Garden
Polk's America - November 06, 2020 21:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsConsultant Brenda Hornsby Heindl shares her research behind the creation of a c. 1820 kitchen garden at the President James K. Polk Home & Museum. The garden provides a tangible connection to the people who lived and labored on the property. Special guests include chef Paul Jensen, brewmaster Za...
Lord Atkin
Selden Society lecture series Australia - October 13, 2020 10:00 - 51 minutesAfter discovering a badly decomposed snail at the bottom of a bottle of ginger ale, Mrs Donoghue became ill and then sued the manufacturer. Lord Atkin’s judgment in this case would have a lasting impact on society. Hear the Hon Justice Applegarth AM discuss this case and others that made Lord At...
Lord Atkin
Selden Society lecture series Australia - October 13, 2020 10:00 - 51 minutesAfter discovering a badly decomposed snail at the bottom of a bottle of ginger ale, Mrs Donoghue became ill and then sued the manufacturer. Lord Atkin’s judgment in this case would have a lasting impact on society. Hear the Hon Justice Applegarth AM discuss this case and others that made Lord At...
Zacharie Kinslow | The Complex Life of Elias Polk
Polk's America - September 29, 2020 18:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsMr. Kinslow's research focuses on the life of Elias Polk, who was enslaved by the Polk family. While enslaved, Elias' labor furthered James Polk's political and professional careers. After emancipation Elias entered politics as a Southern Democrat, the party of his enslaver. Featuring Scott Warr...
Annabeth Hayes | Currier & Ives
Polk's America - September 04, 2020 18:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsLithography firm Currier & Ives profoundly impacted 19th century American popular culture through their "cheap and popular prints." Join Tennessee State Museum curator Annabeth Hayes as she explores the history of the firm and the ways in which it shaped American perspectives and prejudices. Fea...
Supreme Court Fire of 1968
Selden Society lecture series Australia - August 31, 2020 01:00 - 40 minutesIn the early hours of a cold Brisbane morning in 1968, David Bertram Brooks entered the unlocked front door of Queensland’s historic Supreme Court. Resentful of the police and the justice system for his frequent arrests, Brooks made his way to the judges’ chambers and set the building alight. ...
Sir Harry Gibbs CJ
Selden Society lecture series Australia - August 03, 2020 22:00 - 37 minutesSir Harry Talbot Gibbs PC AC GCMC QC served as a Justice of the High Court of Australia for more than 16 years (1970–87), rising to the office of Chief Justice from 1981 to 1987. As a judge of exemplary ability and integrity, with no political affiliations, Sir Harry Gibbs played a key role in m...
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