The rise of pseudolaw

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Daily wrap  

• ‘Objectively nonsense’: Sovereign citizen ‘pseudo-law’ arguments clogging up Australia’s courts | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site
   

  • NORFINA LIMITED -v- FISH [2024] WASC 471 (12 December 2024)
     

• Class action against police use of capsicum spray at 2019 protest begins - ABC News
   

• Drink driving lawyer Lauren Willgoose made 'reckless decision' to get pregnant while awaiting crash sentence - ABC News
   

• Details inside the Murdoch family trust trial have been revealed. Here's what was said - ABC News
   

• Chinese maker of jumping castle at fault, lawyer argues - ABC News
   

• Perth obstetrician speeding and drunk before fatal Dalkeith crash, court hears - ABC News
   

• The secret call central to allegations Daryl Maguire misled ICAC [SMH paywall]

  The former MP for Wagga Wagga was recorded discussing the potential purchase of a multimillion-dollar Sydney property by a Chinese company with “mega-money”, a court has heard.
   

Editor’s picks

• Constitutional Shoehorning | Sydney Law Review

  Constitutional shoehorning refers to a litigant using a constitutional provision that addresses one type of concern to advance a different type of concern. A litigant that seeks to protect their rights by bringing a challenge under a federal division of powers provision is an example. This article makes three arguments in relation to the concept. First, it is an understudied and distinctive move in constitutional argumentation and adjudication, different from implications and strained interpretations. Although challenges can arise when trying to identify instances of constitutional shoehorning, they are surmountable in most cases. Second, it has both positive and negative attributes. Third, it is an important feature of Australian constitutional law due to the absence of a bill of rights.
   

• Lecture by the Hon Peter Applegarth & 2024 Essayists Tickets | TryBooking Australia

  The Hon Peter Applegarth AM, until recently a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, will give an occasional lecture on Monday 24 February 2025 at 5.30 pm in Banco Court titled “In Search of Samuel Griffith: pragmatist or idealist?”
   

• McBride v McBride [2025] NSWSC 57 (3 February 2025)

  SUCCESSION — Family provision — Standing — Leave to commence and maintain proceedings — Consideration of whether a plaintiff who commenced family provision proceedings prior to being convicted of, and serving imprisonment in respect of, serious Commonwealth offences is able to maintain and settle such proceedings whilst he is still in custody — Consideration of common law and Felons (Civil Proceedings) Act 1981 (NSW) regarding persons in custody in respect of serious offences…
   

• High Court of Australia - Business List for March 2025 sittings
    

• Getting the most out of psychiatric evidence with Honourable Justice Elizabeth Wilson and Dr Jane Phillips –The Callover – Apple Podcasts

  On this episode of The Callover, we are joined the Honourable Justice Elizabeth Wilson and Dr Jane Phillips to discuss the value of expert psychiatric evidence in legal proceedings. Justice Wilson graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) at the Queensland University of Technology in 1995, was admitted to the Bar the following year and, in 2011, was appointed as senior counsel.
   

• Trump administration files first supreme court appeal over firing of government watchdog | US supreme court | The Guardian
   

• Lawyers in Walmart lawsuit admit AI 'hallucinated' case citations | Reuters
   

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