Legal interests, 1920-1963

Component identifier:

Series 63

Content Summary:

In this series have been placed papers relating to the law and the legal profession, but which are not concerned with Latham's work as Chief Justice. There are manuscripts on Federal competence in labour matters, the interpretation of the Constitution and other subjects, miscellaneous publications, including the roll kept by the Victorian Bar Council (1957), and the drafts of speeches, including 'The functions of law in society,' 'Law and the citizen,' 'The lawyer as a citizen' (1950), 'The Australian judiciary since 1918' and 'Reception of the common law in Australia' (1959). The correspondence (Items 210-716) dates from February 1933-August 1962 and is concerned with the activities of such bodies as the Law Council of Australia, the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law, the United Nations League of Lawyers, the International Bar Association and the International Commission of Jurists, and contributions by Latham to law journals and law books. The correspondents include Sir Frederic Eggleston, Geoffrey Sawer, Sir Kenneth Bailey, Sir Charles Lowe, W. Friedmann, H. G. Aldermann, Sir George Paton, Kenneth Wheare, Julius Stone and Sir Owen Dixon. There are also invitations, programs and menus for legal conventions, legal dinners and other functions.

Comprises Files 1-8 (Items 1-743).

Immediate source of acquisition:

The bulk of the collection was presented to the National Library by Sir John Latham in December 1963, a few months before his death. In November 1974 the Library purchased some further papers from a secondhand book dealer. They comprised family letters and photographs, some diaries and papers relating to the High Court. These papers have been amalgamated into the original collection.

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