Professor Greg Taylor

Professor Greg Taylor
 Position Int Contract-Fund Research (E)
 Org Unit Adelaide Law School
 Email greg.taylor@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone +61 3 9925 5714
 Location Ligertwood ,   North Terrace
  • Biography/ Background

    Greg Taylor completed his law and arts degrees at the University of Adelaide from 1987 to 1995 as a part-time student while working as a clerk at the E&WS Department (now S.A. Water).  He became Associate to the Honourable Justice Brian Cox in the Supreme Court of South Australia, and was appointed a lecturer at the University of Adelaide in 1999.  He moved to Monash University in 2003 and to R.M.I.T. University in 2015.  He completed a Master's degree and then a doctorate at the the University of Marburg, Germany, in the German language and now teaches there regularly as an honorary professor.  He has published seven books and about a hundred academic articles on fields including constitutional law, comparative law, evidence, criminal procedure and legal history.  The great achievement of his scholarly life so far is proving that the Torrens system did originate in South Australia and was not a copy of a German system; this work has been cited in the judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.  He has also published a biography of Sir Richard Hanson, second Chief Justice of South Australia and first Chancellor of the University of Adelaide.

  • Qualifications

    Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

    Honorary Professor for Common Law and Comparative Law, Marburg University, Germany

    Doktor der Rechte (Marburg), LL.M. (Marburg), LL.B. (Hons.) (Adel.), B.A. (Hons.) (Adel.), Grad. Cert. Leg. Prac. (Uni. S.A.), Grad. Cert. Law Teaching (Monash)

    Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of South Australia

  • Research Interests

    Constitutional law, comparative law, evidence, criminal procedure, legal history

  • Publications

    Books

     

    Ehren- und Persönlichkeitsschutz im australischen Common Law : Ein Vergleich mit dem deutschen Recht (Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2001)

     

    “A Great and Glorious Reformation” : Six Early South Australian Legal Innovations (Wakefield Press, Adelaide 2005)

     

    Characterisation in Federations : Six Countries Compared

    (Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg 2006)

     

    The Constitution of Victoria

    (Federation Press, Annandale 2006)

     

    The Law of the Land : The Advent of the Torrens System in Canada

    (Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History/University of Toronto Press, 2008)

     

    Sir Richard Hanson : A Biography (Federation Press, Annandale 2013)

     

    Interlocutory Criminal Appeals in Australia (Thomsons, Pyrmont 2016)

     

     

    Book Chapters

     

    “Bericht – Australien” in Tellenbach (ed.), Die Rolle der Ehre im Strafrecht

    (Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007)

     

    “The Division of Power in Federal Systems : Comparative Lessons for Australia”

    in Appleby/Aroney (eds.), The Future of Australian Federalism :

    Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

    (C.U.P., 2012)

     

    “Rudolf Leberecht Reimer – A Forgotten German/Australian Lawyer”

    in Hanschel (ed.), Mensch und Recht : Festschrift für Eibe Riedel

    (Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013)

     

    “Laymen versus Lawyers : the Introduction of the Torrens System into Victoria”

    in Grow (ed.), Safe as Houses : The History of the Victorian Lands Titles Office

    (Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Melbourne 2013)

     

    “Electronic Voting in Australia” in Maurer/Barrat (eds.), E-Voting Case Law :

    A Comparative Analysis (Ashgate, Farnham 2015)

     

    “The Emergence of the Torrens System in Australia” in

    Grigg/Hossein (eds.), Boundaries of Australian Property Law

    (C.U.P., Melbourne 2016)

     

    “Diversity within Government Broadcasters” in

    Gounalakis/Taylor (eds.), Media Diversity Law : Australia and Germany Compared

    (Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2016)

     

    “The Spread and Origins of the German Proportionality Doctrine”

    in Hilpold/Perathoner (eds.), Völkerrecht – Europarecht – Deutsches Recht :

    Festschrift für Professor Gilbert Gornig Vol. II

    (Facultas, Vienna 2023)

     

    “The Colonial Government Bill 1864 – Towards a Code of Colonial Constitutional Law” in Griffiths/Korporowicz (eds.), English Law, the Legal Profession, and Colonialism :

    Histories, Parallels, and Influences (Routledge, Oxford 2024)

     

     

    Articles

     

    Commonwealth v. Western Australia and the Operation in Federal Systems of the Presumption that Statutes do not Apply to The Crown”

    (2000) 24 Melbourne University Law Review 77

     

    “Devolution and the Applicability of Statutes to The Crown

    in the Inter-Governmental Context” [2000] Public Law 7

     

    “Retrospective Criminal Punishment under the German and Australian Constitutions”

    (2000) 23 University of New South Wales Law Journal 196

     

    “Public Law, Private Rights : A Comparative View of the Theory behind Recent Changes in Defamation Law to Make it Reflect Constitutional Values”

    (2000) 11 Public Law Review 274

     

    “South Australia’s Judicature Act Reforms of 1853 – the First Attempt to fuse Law and Equity in the British Empire”

    (2001) 22 Journal of Legal History 55

     

    “The United States Supreme Court Re-Considers its View of the Commerce Clause”

    [2001] Public Law 281

     

    “The Grand Jury of South Australia”

    (2001) 45 American Journal of Legal History 468

     

    “The Commerce Clause : Commonwealth Comparisons”

    (2001) 24 Boston College International & Comparative Law Review 235

     

    “Implied Terms in Licences over Land”

    (2001) 21 University of Queensland Law Journal 178

     

    “Casting the Net too Widely : Racial Hatred on the Internet”

    (2001) 25 Criminal Law Journal 260

     

    “Citizenship Rights and the Australian Constitution”

    (2001) 12 Public Law Review 205

     

    “The Effect of the Constitution on the Common Law

    as Revealed by John Pfeiffer v. Rogerson

    (2002) 30 Federal Law Review 69

     

    “Dr Pennefather’s Criminal Code for South Australia”

    (2002) 31 Common Law World Review 62

     

    “Should Addiction to Drugs be a Mitigating Factor in Sentencing?”

    (2002) 26 Criminal Law Journal 324

     

    “Privacy, Injunctions and Possums : An Analysis of the High Court’s Decision in Australian Broadcasting Corporation v. Lenah Game Meats

    (2002) 26 Melbourne University Law Review 707 (with Mr David Wright)

     

    “The Horizontal Effect of Human Rights Provisions, the German Model and its Applicability to Common-Law Jurisdictions”

    (2002) 13 King’s College Law Journal 187

     

    “Why the Common Law Should be only Indirectly Affected by Constitutional Guarantees : A Response to Stone

    (2002) 26 Melbourne University Law Review 623

     

    “The Accused Persons Evidence Act 1882 of South Australia :

    A Model for British Law?”

    (2002) 31 Common Law World Review 332

     

    “The Origins of Associations Incorporation Legislation –

    The Associations Incorporation Act 1858 of South Australia”

    (2003) 22 University of Queensland Law Journal 224

     

    “The New Gay and Lesbian Partnerships Law in Germany”

    (2003) 41 Alberta Law Review 573

     

    “Concepts of Intention in German Criminal Law”

    (2004) 24 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 99

     

    “The Intention Debate in German Criminal Law”

    (2004) 17 Ratio Juris 346

     

    “Scientology in the German Courts”

    (2004) 19 Journal of Law and Religion 153

     

    “Is Addiction to Gambling Relevant in Sentencing?”

    (2004) 28 Criminal Law Journal 141

     

    “The Victorian Criminal Code”

    (2004) 23 University of Queensland Law Journal 170

     

    “John Baker’s Act : The South Australian Origins of Australian Claims-Against-The-Government Legislation”

    (2004) 27 University of New South Wales Law Journal 736

     

    “Judicial Reflections on the Defence Case in the Summing-Up”

    (2005) 26 Australian Bar Review 70

     

    “Two English Hearsay Heresies”

    (2005) 9 International Journal of Evidence & Proof 110

     

    “Rape with Mitigating Circumstances”

    (2005) 26 Australian Bar Review 331

     

    “German Courts Decide who is Jewish :

    On The Agreements Between the German State and Jewish Groups,

    and the Resulting Litigation”

    (2005) 20 Journal of Law and Religion 397

     

    “Four Curiosities of Victorian Evidence Law”

    (2006) 80:8 Law Institute Journal (Victoria) 56

     

    “The Subsidiarity Principle in German Constitutional Law”

    (2006) 4 International Journal of Constitutional Law 115

     

    “Structured Problem-Solving : Against the ‘Step-By-Step’ Method”

    (2006) 11 Deakin Law Review 89

     

    “Two Refusals of Royal Assent in Victoria

    (2007) 29 Sydney Law Review 85

     

    “How Did the Torrens System Get to Canada?”

    (2007) 29:1 Law Society Bulletin (S.A.) 12

     

    “State and Territory Constitutional Law – Still an Important Topic”

    (2007) 10 Constitutional Law and Policy Review 8

     

    “The Torrens System’s Migration to Victoria”

    (2007) 33 Monash University Law Review 323

     

    “Is the Torrens System German?”

    (2008) 29 Journal of Legal History 253

     

    “Refusals of Assent to Bills Passed by Parliament in Germany and Australia”

    (2008) 36 Federal Law Review 83

     

    "A 'Telephone Exception' to Hearsay?"

    (2008) 30 Australian Bar Review 318

     

    “Justice Callinan’s Contribution to the Law of Torts”

    (2008) 27 University of Queensland Law Journal 91

     

    “Upper House Reform in Germany”

    (2008) 17 Constitutional Forum 25

     

    “Parliament’s Power to Require the Production of Documents :

    A Recent Victorian Case”

    (2008) 13:2 Deakin Law Review 17

     

    “The Torrens System in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick”

    (2009) 16 Australian Property Law Journal 175

     

    “Germany : A Slow Death for Subsidiarity?”

    (2009) 7 International Journal of Constitutional Law 139

     

    “Ulrich Hübbe’s Doctoral Thesis –

    A Note on the Major Work of an Unusual Figure in Australian Legal History”

    (2009) 8 Legal History 123

     

    “Torrens’ Contemporaneous Antipodean Simulacrum”

    (2007) 49 American Journal of Legal History 392

     

     “Parallel Statutes : Another Look at the Origins of

    Australia’s Not-For-Profit Associations Legislation”

    (2009) 30 Adelaide Law Review 57

     

    “Last but not Least : the Torrens System’s Path to Western Australia”

    (2009) 17 Australian Journal of Property Law 279

     

    “The Torrens System – Definitely not German”

    (2009) 30 Adelaide Law Review 195

     

    “Federalism in Australia”

    (2010) 4 Vienna Online Journal on International Constitutional Law 171

     

    “Executive Privilege in Response to a Demand for Documents

    by the Legislature in Germany”

    (2010) 21 King’s Law Journal 399

     

    “Constitutional Restrictions on Touch-Screen Voting Computers in Germany”

    (2010) 9 Election Law Journal 443

     

    “Justice v. Certainty : International Law and the Mortgagee's Power of Sale”

    (2010) 18 Australian Journal of Property Law 245 (with Mr M. Ziemer)

     

    “Jury Trial in Austria”

    (2011) 14 New Criminal Law Review 281

     

    “International Law and Mortgagee Sales – Continued”

    (2011) 20 Australian Journal of Property Law 58

     

    “‘Let Them Say More that Like of Hearsay Well’ :

    Implied Assertions under the Hearsay Rule

    As Expressed in the Uniform Evidence Legislation”

    (2012) 35 Australian Bar Review 270

     

    “Macaulay’s Indian Penal Code – A Success at Home, Overlooked Abroad”

    [2012] Journal of Commonwealth Criminal Law 51

     

    “Easements Implied in a Grant – Away with ‘Continuous and Apparent’”

    (2012) 38 Monash University Law Review 128

     

    “Manufactured Inconsistency” (2013) 39 Monash University Law Review 131

    (with Mr N. Dour)

     

    “The Early Life of Mr Justice Boothby

    (2013) 34 Adelaide Law Review 167

     

    “Zur strafrechtlichen Gleichstellung Homosexueller in der späten D.D.R.”

    [2014] Journal der juristischen Zeitgeschichte 1 (English version follows)

     

    “The East German Contribution to Equal Gay and Lesbian Rights in Germany”

    (2014) 54 American Journal of Legal History 303 (German version above)

     

    “Conventions by Consensus : Constitutional Conventions in Germany”

    (2014) 12 International Journal of Constitutional Law 303

     

     “Austria’s Law against Defamation of Religion – A Case Study”

    (2015) 30 Journal of Law and Religion 80

     

    “Cancel that Hamburger (The Torrens System was Not German)”

    (2015) 24 Australian Journal of Property Law 167

     

    David Dudley Field’s Visit to Australia, 1874”

    (2015) 55 American Journal of Legal History 287

     

    “‘Conceived in Sin, Shaped in Iniquity’ –

    The Kable Doctrine as Breach of the Rule of Law”

    (2015) 34 University of Queensland Law Journal 265

     

    “A History of Section 127 of the Commonwealth Constitution”

    (2016) 42 Monash University Law Review 206

     

    “On the Origin of Section 96 of the Constitution”

    (2016) 39 University of New South Wales Law Journal 1438

     

    “Judicial Reflections on the Defence Case – An Update”

    (2016) 42 Australian Bar Review 189

     

    “Victoria’s Constitution and Parliament : the Bracks/Brumby Legacy”

    (2016) 6 Victoria University Law and Justice Journal 36

     

     “Teachers’ Religious Headscarves in German Constitutional Law”

    (2017) 6 Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 93

     

    “The Constitutionality of Election Thresholds in Germany”

    (2017) 15 International Journal of Constitutional Law 734

     

    “The Grand Jury of New Zealand in the Nineteenth Century”

    (2018) 58 American Journal of Legal History 227

    (shorter version in (2018) 919 Law Talk 77)

     

    “The Judicial Incompatibility Clause – Or, How a Version of the Kable Principle Nearly Made It Into the Federal Constitution”

    (2018) 39 Adelaide Law Review 351

     

    “‘Squizzy’ and the Cuckold : How Majority Jury Verdicts Got their Australian Foothold”

    (2018) 45 Australian Bar Review 36

     

    “Why Were Aborigines Originally Excluded from the Races Power?”

    (2018) 37 University of Queensland Law Journal 237

     

    “The Difference between Sections 84 and 85 of the Uniform Evidence Acts”

    (2019) 93 Australian Law Journal 53

     

    “The Constitution and the Common Law Again”

    (2019) 40 Adelaide Law Review 573

     

    “Ways of Making You Talk : Germany’s Judicial Determinations that the Executive Must Answer Parliamentary Questions Properly”

    (2019) 38 University of Tasmania Law Review 103

     

    “Knighthoods and the Order of Australia”

    (2020) 49 Australian Bar Review 323

     

     “The Three Queenslands : Sir Samuel Griffith’s ‘Ghost’ Draft

    for a Queensland Federation”

    (2020) 39 University of Queensland Law Journal 33

     

    “Respects of Character”

    (2020) 44 Criminal Law Journal 32

     

    “Casual Vacancies under Proportional Representation”

    (2020) 43 University of New South Wales Law Journal 1435

     

    “Leadership Spill Rules from the Constitutional Perspective”

    (2021) 95 Australian Law Journal 203

     

    “Excluded : the Democratic Deficit in Interstate Border Closures”

    (2021) 95 Australian Law Journal 579

     

    “Love the Sinner : the Crime of Attempted Suicide

    In Late Nineteenth-Century Australia”

    (2022) 51 Australian Bar Review 129

     

    “Re-trials after Acquittals in Germany”

    (2022) 46 Criminal Law Journal 234

     

    “Manner and Form” (2023) 52 Australian Bar Review 361

     

     

    Book reviews and commentaries

     

    Review of Swenden, Federalism and Second Chambers : Regional Representation in Parliamentary Federations – the Australian Senate and German Bundesrat Compared

    (2005) 54 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 534

     

    Review of Esposito, Die Entstehung des australischen Grundstücksregisterrechts (Torrenssystem) – Eine Rezeption Hamburger Partikularrechts?

    (2005) 26 Adelaide Law Review 359

     

    Review of McCreery, The Order of Canada :

    Its Origins, History and Development

    (2006) 27 Adelaide Law Review 341

     

    Review of Schümer, Die Stellung des Ministerpräsidenten

    in den Bundesländern im Vergleich

    (2007) 17 European Business Law Review 1205

     

    Review of Bennett, George Higinbotham : Third Chief Justice of Victoria

    (2007) 81:7 Law Institute Journal (Victoria) 83

     

    Review of Waugh, First Principles : The Melbourne Law School 1857 – 2007

    (2008) 31 Australian Bar Review 132

     

    Review of Rabe, Die föderale Entwicklung in Australien und Deutschland :

    ein Rechtsvergleich

    (2009) 11 Constitutional Law and Policy Review 119

     

    Review of Aroney/Prasser/Nethercote (eds.), Restraining Elective Dictatorship :

    The Upper House Solution

    (2009) 35 Monash University Law Review 446

     

    Review of Boyce, The Queen’s Other Realms

    (2009) 83:10 Law Institute Journal 73

     

    Review of Halliday, Habeas Corpus : From England to Empire

    (2010) 84:9 Law Institute Journal 65

     

    Review of Killey, Constitutional Conventions in Australia :

    An Introduction to the Unwritten Rules of Australia’s Constitutions

    (2010) 31 Adelaide Law Review 271

     

    Review of Lauterwein, The Limits of Criminal Law : A Comparative Analysis of Approaches to Legal Theorising

    (2010) 28 University of Queensland Law Journal 347

     

    Review of Gray, The Constitutional Jurisprudence and Judicial Method of the High Court of Australia [2011] Public Law 217

     

    Review of Mellifont, Fruit of the Poisonous Tree :

    Evidence Derived from Illegally or Improperly Obtained Evidence

    (2011) 85:1 Law Institute Journal 69

     

    Review of Curtis/Resnik, Representing Justice :

    Invention, Controversy, and Rights in City-States and Democratic Courtrooms

    (2011) 85:12 Law Institute Journal 66

     

    Commentary on Williams, “The Drafting of the Commonwealth Constitution”

    (2011) 6 Public Policy 19

     

    Review of Page/Prest (eds.), Blackstone and his Critics

    (2019) 44 Alternative Law Journal 252

     

    Review of Bur, Laws of the Constitution Consolidated

    (2021) 95:9 Law Institute Journal 68

     

    Review of Whiting/O’Connell (eds.),

    Legal History Matters : from Magna Carta to the Clinton Impeachment

    (2021) 42 Adelaide Law Review 397

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Entry last updated: Friday, 27 Oct 2023

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