From Lutine Bell to Law Reform - A Case Study in Australian Admiralty Law

• Author: The Hon Justice Michael Kirby
• Position: Justice of the High Court of Australia. One-time Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission and Judge of the Federal Court of Australia. The author acknowledges the assistance in the preparation of this paper of Mr Adam Sharpe and Ms Anna Gordon, Legal Researchers in the Library of the High Court of Australia
• Pages: 1-13

(2008) 22 A&NZ Mar LJ 1

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The 34th Annual MLAANZ Conference

CANBERRA

27 SEPTEMBER 2007

Frank Stuart Dethridge Memorial Address

‘FROM LUTINE BELL TO LAW REFORM —

A CASE STUDY IN AUSTRALIAN ADMIRALTY LAW’

The Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG*

My Lutine Bell Tolls

In life, vanity ultimately gives way to reality. I am well aware that I have been invited to give this Dethridge

Lecture in a representative and not a personal capacity.

I do so, first, as a Justice of the High Court of Australia, our nation’s final appellate and constitutional court

which occasionally decides cases involving admiralty jurisdiction and maritime law. And secondly, as the

erstwhile Chairman (as the office was then styled) of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC). It is

twenty years since that Commission delivered its important report on admiralty jurisdiction. It is therefore

timely to reflect on that achievement: on what has been secured and what may lie ahead.

If my life had turned out differently, I might have been giving this address in a personal capacity. As chance

would have it, I came within a whisker of a lifetime’s dedication to admiralty and maritime law. The invitation

to contribute to the Dethridge Lecture series brings the memories flooding back.

In 1962, I had just graduated from the Sydney University Law School. With my brilliant school results and

outstanding university record, I was looking around for a worthwhile future in the law.

Out of the blue a letter arrived at my parents’ home. It invited applications from new law graduates for

appointment as a starting solicitor. I duly made an application and was invited to call at the premises of Mr John

Bowen, solicitor. His office, in an old building since demolished, commanded a vista of Bridge Street in

Sydney. Engraved on the door in gold (or was it brass?) was the legend ‘Ebsworth & Ebsworth’. Showing great

foresight, Mr Bowen selected me. He promised me an exciting career in admiralty and maritime law. My

youthful imagination conjured up images of the mighty ships and ancient precedents. I felt that I was being

piped aboard a vessel that would sail me forward into a life of calm and prosperous waters.

Imagine my surprise when an urgent letter arrived soon after from Ebsworths asking me to call again on their

office with its great city vistas. A misfortune had occurred. It was as if the Lutine Bell was being sounded for

the sinking of my professional vessel, full of hope. The Hon Fred Osborn CMG, DSC, VRD, Federal Minister

for the Navy in the Menzies Government, Member for Evans, had lost his seat in Federal Parliament. These

things have an unpleasant way of happening in federal elections. He was a partner in Ebsworths. Unexpectedly,

he had to be received back into the fold. In consequence, there was no space for an aspiring new recruit.

The offer of a lifetime in admiralty law was summarily, and unilaterally, withdrawn. With heart shattered, I

stumbled out into the sunlight of Bridge Street, my decks awash with tears. My great ambition had come to a

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* Justice of the High Court of Australia. One-time Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission and Judge of the Federal Court of

Australia. The author acknowledges the assistance in the preparation of this paper of Mr Adam Sharpe and Ms Anna Gordon, Legal

Researchers in the Library of the High Court of Australia.