An Australian August Corpus: Why There is Only One Common Law in Australia

Abstract

For nearly 100 years following federation there was not a settled view as to whether there existed but onecommon law in Australia, as opposed to a common law for each polity in the Australian federation. This articleinvestigates why that was so. It considers the constitutional and juristic underpinnings of the now establishedposition that there is a single common law in Australia, identifying five conceptual versions of the commonlaw in Australia and three stages in its evolution. The article also considers some of the consequences of thesingle common law in the Australian legal system.