PREFACE THE writer of a book on the Commonwealth of Australia has no need to arouse interest in his subject; but his anxiety must be the greater, lest his exposition should be unworthy of the matter dealt with, and should fail to satisfy the expectations of those who, from many very different points of view, desire to study the new Constitution. I have departed somewhat from the arrangement adopted in the Constitution itself, for reasons which I think will be apparent to those who may use the book. I hope, however, that the index to the Constitution will enable readers to use the book as an annotated text. I append a list of principal works referred to. I have not in every case made use of the latest editions, partly because in Australia it is not always easy to obtain them or even to ascertain what is the latest edition of a work, partly because the greater number are works of which libraries and students are as likely to have earlier as later editions. I desire to express my thanks to the editors and publishers of the Quarterly Review, the Law Quarterly Review, and the Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation for permission to make use of articles which I have contributed to those magazines; in the case of the last-named journal, I have also to acknowledge the assistance I have received from the articles which have appeared from time to time on Modes of Legislation in the British Colonies, and from Mr. Wood Renton's article on Indian and Colonial Appeals to the Privy Council. To Mr. Justice Inglis Clark, of the Supreme Court of Tasmania, and to the Hon. W. H. Irvine, late Attorney General for Victoria, I am indebted for advice and criticism on particular matters. My thanks are also due to Professor Jethro Brown, of the University College of Wales, for reading the proofs and seeing the book through the press; and to Mr. Alban C. Morley, of the Victorian Bar, for assistance in making the indexes and in preparing the book for the press. MELBOURNE, 1901. W. H. M. NOTE. The Publisher thinks it right, on behalf of the Author who is in Australia, to acknowledge the trouble and care taken by Mr. C. Eastlake Smith in the final adaptation of the Index and the reading of the proofs of this book. |