In the recent case of Love and Thoms v Commonwealth [2020] HCA 3, in powerful judgments reminiscent of Mabo v Queensland (No 2), four judges of the High Court declared that Indigenous Australians can never be ‘aliens’ for the purposes of s 51(xix) of the Australian Constitution. In strong dissents, three judges refused to introduce a race-based distinction...Read More

In March 2020, the High Court changed the law concerning when a person is an “officer” of a corporation for the purposes of s.9 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Until the decision in Australian Securities and Investments Commission v King [2020] HCA 4, (King) intermediate appellate courts had held that in order for a...Read More

The fascinating and compelling decision in Vedanta Resources PLC v Lungowe [2019] UKSC 20, delivered 10 April 2019, involved a procedural dispute over whether litigation relating to pollution in Zambia could be tried in the English Courts. The judgment is significant for multinational UK parent companies with operating companies in the most underdeveloped countries, but...Read More

On Friday, 5 June 2020, the High Court granted special leave to appeal to a landholder group, Oakey Coal Action Alliance Inc (OCCA), against a decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal. The grant of special leave is the latest step in long running litigation concerning applications by New Acland Coal Pty Ltd for an...Read More

Last week saw the launch of an important research report throwing light on the circumstances in which the death penalty is imposed in Malaysia. The report comes at an important time with Malaysia’s first non Barisan Nasional government since independence in 1957 collapsing after less than two years in government. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had...Read More