Justice Connections

Former High Court judge of Australia, the Hon Michael Kirby, AC, CMG, in addressing the symposium that has evolved into this book, stressed the need for vigilance in the pursuit and protection of justice. Justice Connections is evidence of such vigilance. The book is a veritable smorgasbord of subjects - violence against women, Indigenous people, sentencing, genetic profiling, cultural exceptionalism, arbitral proceedings and environmental law.However, certain themes are constant. The notion of respect for the individual and their personal characteristics underpins the analyses in the book. Accordingly, a number of contributors examine the need to recognise and protect the potentially vulnerable in society. There is recognition too of the significance of the public interest and public participation in just policy and decision-making.Whilst the principle of the rule of law is a constant in civilised society another message of the book is that its form is very much an evolving beast. Furthermore, the book illustrates that justice is not synonymous with law, but more, as Professor Margaret Thornton concludes, 'a performative idea that is played out differently in different sites by different actors'.