Law Week: Learn about the law in your life

Learn about the law in your life from this great range of books. Victorian Law Week runs from 20 to 26 May.

Updated April 21, 2024
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Black Lives, White Law: ; Locked Up and Locked Out in Australia
Marks, Russell.
'Russell Marks unravels a national tragedy. From the front line he delivers a first-rate, firsthand account of how so many First Nations people end up in jail, again and again.' -Patrick Dodson, Labor Senator for Western Australia Indigenous Australians are the most incarcerated...
Broken : children, parents and family courts
Nelson, Camilla
'What happens to kids in our family law system should be a national scandal ... An urgent call to action'-Jess Hill, author of See What You Made Me Do The family courts intimately affect the lives of those who come before them. Judges can decide where you are allowed to...
The court reporter
Wells, Jamelle
From true crime to petty crime - this is the memoir of one of Australia's most experienced court reporters. Longlisted in the True Crime category for the 2019 Davitt and Ned Kelly Awards. As a seasoned court reporter, the ABC's Jamelle Wells has filed thousands of...
Courting : an intimate history of love and the law
Simmonds, Alecia
Until well into the twentieth century, heartbroken men and women in Australia had a legal redress for their suffering- jilted lovers could claim compensation for 'breach of promise to marry'. Hundreds of people, mostly from the working classes, came before the courts, and their stories give us a...
Courting power : law, democracy & the public interest in Australia
Reinecke, Isabelle
Courts aren' t just there to settle divorces, sentence law-breakers and resolve corporate disputes. A healthy legal system, one that ensures access, transparency and accountability, is fundamental to democracy. When the system works, the courts act as a check on government power, holding our...
The death of Dr Duncan
Reeves, Tim
The drowning of Dr Duncan in the River Torrens in 1972 remains one of South Australia's most notorious unsolved murders. His death shocked the community and still reverberates 50 years later. Tim Reeves is an award-winning author and the acknowledged authority on the Duncan case. He...
Death on the Derwent : Sue Neill-Fraser's story
Bowles, Robin
When Bob Chappell disappeared from his yacht, moored in the Derwent Estuary near the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania's marina, on the night of 26 January 2009, he left behind his pipe and tobacco - something that his partner of 18 years, Sue Neill-Fraser, knew he would never willingly do. What she didn...
How many more women? : exposing how the law silences women
Robinson, Jennifer
In this powerful and accessible exploration of our legal systems, two human rights lawyers break open the big judgments, developments and trends that have and continue to silence and disadvantage women
Law : the way of the ancestors
Langton, Marcia
'Our Laws are forever present and provide the pathways for all Australians to truly learn how to belong to this continent.' - June Oscar 'No other current work has been able to so comprehensively explain the significance of traditional law in all its manifestations.' -...
The law handbook 2023 : your practical guide to the law in Victoria
Saligari, Naomi
Law in Australian society : an introduction to principles and process
Hardy, Keiran
An introductory guide to the nature of law and government in Australia suitable for beginners.
Mandatory murder
Schubert, Steven
At first it looked like a swag, said the grader driver who found the body just off the road outside the outback town of Katherine. Police identify the dead man as Ray Nicefero, who'd recently appeared in court for aggravated assault and breaching a domestic violence order.Three days later, the...
Mixed Fortunes : A History of Tax Reform in Australia
Tilley, Paul.
Australia's history is sprinkled with attempts at tax reform - some successful, some not. Mixed Fortunes explores these efforts at substantive change in our tax system. Paul Tilley takes us from the establishment of the Australian Constitution at Federation in 1901 and the 1942 unification of...
Murder at Myall Creek : the trial that defined a nation
Tedeschi, Mark
One of the most shocking murder trials in Australia's legal history, and the tribulations of the man who conducted it 'A deeply moving account of a massacre that is a stain on our nation's soul - and the prosecutor who brought the perpetrators to justice'. Peter FitzSimons...
Outback court reporter
Wells, Jamelle
One of Australia's most experienced court reporters goes on a judicial road trip. Outback Court Reporter is a sometimes funny, sometimes tragic look at the comings and goings on inside the country courtrooms dotted across Australia. From the case of the stolen cat flap...
The penalty is death : state power, law, and justice
Jones, Barry O.
The Penalty is Death was first published in 1968, in the aftermath of the hanging of Ronald Ryan in Victoria - the last man executed in Australia. At the time, capital punishment had been abolished as the penalty for murder in only 30 nations, although there was a moratorium on its use in...
Prison break : Shantaram to the Bangkok Hilton : the world's most wanted Australians
Dapin, Mark
The true stories behind the myths of Gregory Roberts, John Killick and Australia's most wanted men.
The pursuit of justice : the judge who presided over some of Australia's most controversial cases and his career as a lawyer, barrister and social justice advocate
Finnane, Michael
The judge who presided over some of Australia's most controversial cases and his career as a lawyer, barrister and social justice advocate From a very young age Michael Finnane had a righteous sense of injustice and, despite growing up in a family with no legal background, he set his sights on...
Reasonable doubt : lost lives, justice delayed, criminals walking free: exposing Australia's worst wrongful convictions
Mallett, Xanthé
'The good, bad and downright rotten parts of Australia's criminal justice system are put on trial by Dr Xanthé Mallett. With her clear-eyed logic and objectivity, this compelling book identifies reasonable doubts which must keep prosecutors and defence lawyers awake at night.' Hedley Thomas, host of...
Runaway technology : can law keep up?
Fairfield, Joshua A. T.
In an era of corporate surveillance, artificial intelligence, deep fakes, genetic modification, automation, and more, law often seems to take a back seat to rampant technological change. To listen to Silicon Valley barons, there's nothing any of us can do about it. In this riveting work, Joshua A. T...
Separation and divorce : an Australian guide
Smithson, Katrina
Dealing with a relationship breakdown, custody dispute or other family crisis can be an overwhelming, emotional and stressful experience. The last thing you need is to be thrust into the unfamiliar territory of the family court system without a clue about how to navigate it. Separation and Divorce:...
Southern justice : a chilling cold case examination that uncovers how an innocent Australian woman was found guilty of murder, and why she must be freed... now!
McLaren, Colin
Who really murdered Bob Chappell? Veteran ex-detective and author of JFK: The Smoking Gun, Colin McLaren, uncovers disturbing new evidence that an innocent woman is in jail. Daybreak, Sandy Bay, Hobart, 27 January 2009. A yacht, the Four Winds, is seen...
Split second : the dark secrets of a cop turned criminal defence lawyer
Kuzilny, Michael
Michael Kuzilny is a successful Australian based lawyer who has been working in the criminal justice system since 1986. He is a published author of ten books, a legal commentator on National television and current affairs, and has hosted several TV programs over the years. Michael thrives on...
Surviving your split : a guide to separation, divorce and family law in Australia
Mannering, Lucy
Welcome to the club that you never wanted to join. You aren't alone- 94,000 Australians get divorced every year, and this doesn't include de facto relationships, which are just about identical in the eyes of the Family Court. Of all major life events that mess you around, divorce comes...
The truth hurts
Boe, Andrew
Criminal justice systems are not designed to seek the truth. In places like Australia, court proceedings remain an adversarial blood sport at times distorted by smoke and mirrors or failed by individual shortcomings. Navigating it is difficult and uncertain for any one of us but more so if you are...
Victorian criminal procedure : state and federal law
Fox, Richard G.
Cover image: The Supreme Court of Victoria © Reproduced with permission of the artist, Simon Fieldhousewww.simonfieldhouse.comThe 2019 edition of this indispensable work offers a comprehensive overview of the law governing the procedures for prosecuting offenders against commonwealth and state law...
The Walnut Tree: ; Women, Violence and the Law: A Hidden History
Morgan, Kate.
'Compulsively readable' - Times Literary Supplement 'An outstanding work' - Philippa Gregory 'A powerful narrative told with frankness and sensitivity' Helen Fry, historian and author of Women In Intelligence 'A woman, a dog and a...
Witness : an investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice
Milligan, Louise
A masterful and deeply troubling exposé, Witness is the culmination of almost five years' work for award-winning investigative journalist Louise Milligan. Charting the experiences of those who have the courage to come forward and face their abusers in high-profile child abuse and...
Wrongful convictions in Australia : addressing issues in the criminal justice system
Cordner, Stephen M.
Australians generally trust their criminal justice system, but most are unaware that wrongful convictions are common, are not systematically recorded and are very difficult to correct. This book seeks to document the incidence of wrongful convictions and explain the factors that contribute to them....

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