Author(s): William Gummow (Editor); Susan Crennan (Editor)

Biography & Memoir

Although it is now ninety years since he was first appointed to the High Court and fifty five years since he retired as Chief Justice, Sir Owen Dixon remains the towering figure in Australian jurisprudence. He is widely viewed as our greatest and most influential judge. While Dixon's judgments continue to be cited by courts and debated by scholars, his extra-judicial writings have been more difficult to obtain and having accordingly received less attention. The publication of this new expanded edition of Jesting Pilate will help redress the balance, bringing as it does less studied aspects of Dixon's expansive and worldly intellect to the fore again.In addition to reorganising the original papers, the Editors have enlarged the collection significantly by including two previously unpublished addresses by Sir Owen Dixon, as well as two papers by Dixon's former associate and friend James Merralls AM QC which provide important context about Dixon's life and work. Additionally insight into Dixon's legacy is provided by the inclusion of important papers by each of the editors. Finally, the speech delivered by Sir Ninian Stephen on the 100th anniversary of Dixon's birth is included, as is a new Foreword by the Hon Susan Kiefel, Chief Justice of Australia.As the Editors note in their Introduction:The materials collected in Jesting Pilate, prepared for disparate occasions, demonstrate aspects of Dixon's personality which might otherwise remain elusive: the warmth of his friendships, his love of an allusive joke and his perspicacity about world affairs and the personalities shaping them. ... It is our hope that this third edition of Jesting Pilate confirms Dixon's past and continuing contribution to developments in Australian law and reaffirms his stature as a great man.