Part VII Rights, Ch.38 Due Process

This chapter explores how guarantees of due process in Australia are implemented. It first examines the unsuccessful attempt in the 1890s to incorporate an express due process clause in the Australian Constitution. The chapter next looks at the High Court's historical recognition that Chapter III of the Constitution incorporates judicial review of the validity of legislative and executive action and a separation of federal judicial power. It then examines how, in recent decades, the Court has distilled a group of due process guarantees binding on the Commonwealth and the states from this institutional framework. Finally, the chapter considers key issues in future development of Australian due process law.