Negotiations between Australia and the European Union (EU) for a free trade agreement (the AEUFTA) appear to be nearing completion. Based on the EU’s negotiating mandate and the official reports from the negotiations so far, it is clear that the AEUFTA’s investment-related provisions will focus exclusively on market access and investment liberalisation. The AEUFTA will thus not incorporate investment protection obligations and nor will it include an investor-State dispute settlement mechanism. Despite these omissions, the conclusion of the AEUFTA will be significant from the perspective of both negotiating States, including because it reveals the policy and legal constraints guiding the approach of each to the negotiation and conclusion of investment treaties and investment chapters in FTAs. This article first introduces the contours of the bilateral investment relationship between the EU and Australia and then examines why the FTA adopts an exclusively liberalisation-focussed approach, to address whether the exclusion of investment protection and investor-State arbitration from the scope of the FTA is a strategic omission on the part of one or both parties. To consider next whether such omission is a missed opportunity, the article examines the likely focus of the investment-related provisions of the treaty, and what impact the FTA is likely to have vis-à-vis investors and existing investment treaties.

What private law avenues are open to victims of human rights violations? This innovative new collection explores this question across sixteen jurisdictions in the Global South and Global North. It examines existing mechanisms in domestic law for bringing civil claims in relation to the involvement of states, corporations and individuals in specific categories of human rights violation: (i) assault or unlawful arrest and detention of persons; (ii) environmental harm; and (iii) harmful or unfair labour conditions. Taking a truly global perspective, it assesses the question in jurisdictions as diverse as Kenya, Switzerland, the US and the Philippines. A much needed and important new statement on how to respond to human rights violations. 

This book celebrates the scholarship of Peter Cane. The significance and scale of his contributions to the discipline of law over the last half-century cannot be overstated. In an era of increasing specialisation, Cane stands out on account of the unusually broad scope of his interests, which extend to both private and public law in equal measure. This substantive breadth is combined with remarkable doctrinal, historical, comparative and theoretical depth. This book is written by admirers of Cane's work, and the essays probe a wide range of issues, especially in administrative law and tort law. Consistently with the international prominence that Cane's research has enjoyed, the contributors are drawn from across the common law world. The volume will be of value to anyone who is interested in Cane's towering contributions to legal scholarship and administrative law and tort law more generally.

This chapter assesses the international legal and constitutional law issues associated with the capacity of the Australian states and territories to conduct themselves in foreign affairs, especially vis-à-vis China. It is published in the book, Taking the low road: China's influence in Australian states and territories, edited by Emeritus Professor John Fitzgerald and published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).

The attacks of 9/11 kickstarted the development of a pervasive and durable transnational counter-terrorism order. This has evolved into a vast institutional architecture with direct effects on domestic law around the world and a number of impacts on everyday life that are often poorly understood. States found, fund and lead institutions inside and outside the United Nations that develop and consolidate transnational counter-terrorism through hard and soft law, strategies, capacity building and counter-terrorism 'products'. These institutions and laws underpin the expansion of counter-terrorism, so that new fields of activity get drawn into it, and others are securitised through their reframing as counter-terrorism and 'preventing and countering extremism'. Drawing on insights from law, international relations, political science and security studies, this book demonstrates the international, regional, national and personal impacts of this institutional and legal order. Fiona de Londras demonstrates that it is expansionary, rights-limiting and unaccountable.

Four decades after its formation, the Federal Court has clearly established itself as a Court of high standing which fosters excellence, innovation and courtesy. The lifespan of the Federal Court has seen the rise of statutory rights and remedies, the conferral of collective redress, as well as the emergence of the modern regulator and the managerial judge. This contribution will focus on significant challenges that have arisen during that time and the adaptation of civil procedure in response. It will use the Federal Court’s ethos of excellence, innovation and courtesy as a framework to illustrate how the Court has responded procedurally to the challenges before it.

A search of relevant government publications does not provide any evidence of an official definition for maritime security that has been adopted by the Australian Government. A range of government departments and authorities use the term, but invariably without any accompanying definition.

This article explores the future role for e-mooting in legal education. It analyses the skills that students can gain from online competitions with regard to the increasing use of online court hearings and conferences by the wider legal profession and assesses the improvements to accessibility and equity that result from hosting competitions online. It argues that such benefits justify the continuation of online-only competitions where law schools are not subsidising travel and accommodation to teams and provides practical guidance to law schools in designing and managing online mooting programs.

Monetary finance (money creation by central banks to fund public expenditure) is a high-profile part of economic, political and policy debates concerning the legitimacy of central banks in liberal economies and democracies. This article makes a distinctively legal contribution to those debates by analysing the legal frameworks governing monetary finance in three prominent central banking systems between 2008 and 2020: the Federal Reserve System, the Eurosystem and the Bank of England. It begins by explaining the law governing central bank and national treasury relations in the United States, the EU and the UK. It then examines how that law operated under the unconventional monetary policies adopted by central banks in response to the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The article concludes by reflecting on the challenges monetary finance presents to the sui generis position of central banks in the liberal constitutional order.