Justice William Charles Crockett AO - Victorian Bar

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News and ViewsFarewell to His Honour Mr JuOn the occasion of his retirement from the Court of Appeal of the SupremeCourt of Victoria delivered on Thursday 22 February 2007In a recent admissions ceremony yourHonour referred to the book commonlycalled the Politics in which Aristotledescribes law as “a kind of justice”:Law is not perfect justice. It is only a kindof justice. It is a fallible, human project, apractical means by which we are to do ourbest, in the circumstances of real life, toachieve justice.On this day in which your Honour isfarewelled as a judge by the legal professionand the State of Victoria, no one coulddoubt that you have dedicated 37 years ofservice to the law (including 11 years as aJudge of Appeal of the Supreme Court) todoing your best, in the circumstances ofreal life, to achieve justice.On behalf of the Attorney-General, mayI express his gratitude, and the gratitudeof the State of Victoria, for your Honour’sextended and devoted service to theadministration of justice in this State onthe occasion of your Honour’s retirementfrom the Supreme Court.Your Honour was born in Sydney on10 November 1945, and in your infantyears your family moved to Melbourne.Your Honour attended MelbourneChurch of England Grammar School(now Melbourne Grammar School)from 1958 to 1964. During your time atMelbourne Grammar, you were awardeda Wadhurst entrance scholarship, a JuniorGovernment Scholarship, and a SeniorGovernment Scholarship. You matriculatedwith Special Exhibitions in Latin andFrench, a General Exhibition and a TrinityCollege Exhibition. The following year,when, in Melbourne Grammar custom,you repeated Matriculation, you obtainedfour first-class honours as well as beingBruce House Captain, Prefect, schoollibrarian and a Cadet under officer.These achievements aside, your fellowstudents at Melbourne Grammar recallthat from your very first day it was clearto them that they were in the presenceof an exceptional intellect. One friend24His Honour Mr Justice Callaway.remembers that in your first English class,your teacher gave all of the students fiveminutes’ free time to do whatever theywished. To their surprise, at the end of thefive minutes, she asked what each studenthad been doing. One student reported that
stice Frank Hortin Callawayhe had been looking forward to play-timeand another was considering the merits ofhis favorite ice-cream. When it came toyour Honour’s turn, you announced thatyou had spent your five minutes readingthe dictionary. This confirmed to your fellowstudents that instinctively you werea scholar. Although you left MelbourneGrammar at the end of 1964, you havemaintained your affiliation with it.Your practice was initiallyin those areas in which youhad significant experience,mainly commercial andequity matters, restrictivetrade practices law,administrative law,constitutional law andtaxation.Your Honour’s academic success continuedwith the completion of a first-classHonours Law degree at the University ofMelbourne, where your excellence wasrecognised by the award of the EJB NunnScholarship, the Robert Craig Exhibitionin Company Law and the Supreme CourtPrize. Your Honour was also activelyinvolved in student life throughout youruniversity career, becoming Book ReviewEditor of the Melbourne University LawReview in 1966 and Editor in 1967. YourHonour completed a Masters of Laws atthe University of Melbourne in 1974. Ageneration of company lawyers since thatdate have relied upon your Masters Thesis,supervised by Professor Harry Ford, andpublished in 1978, on the winding upof companies on the just and equitableground. Your Honour’s love of the powerand exactitude of language was evident inyour other work, Drafting Notes, whichI amongst hundreds at the Victorian Barhave used on a regular basis and which isused to train those studying at the Collegeof Law in New South Wales.Your Honour was articled to Mr ColinTrumble at Mallesons, and your admissionin April 1969 was moved by MrJames Merralls. You became a partnerof Mallesons after just five years at thefirm at the age of only 29. Perhaps prophetically,in anticipation of your futuredecisions appearing in the VictorianReports, you kept your advices inbound leather volumes. In 1977, you leftMallesons to read with Mr Ross Sundbergand you signed the Bar Roll on 21 July1977.Your practice was initially in thoseareas in which you had significant experience,mainly commercial and equitymatters, restrictive trade practices law,administrative law, constitutional law andtaxation. Just as your Honour had accumulatedaccolades at Melbourne GrammarSchool, the University of Melbourne andMallesons, you were quick to establishan excellent reputation at the Bar. Onecolleague described your submissions asinvariably directly on point, incisive, clearand without a word wasted. Certainly thisdid not go unnoticed by other counsel,even those as eminent as Michael McHughQC. In an action brought under the TradePractices Act 1974 (Cth) in relationto an alleged anti-competitive arrangementmade between bakers of bread inthe ACT, TPC v George Weston Foods, 1your Honour, as a junior of three years’call appearing for two of the defendants,argued for judgment in their favour on theground that there was no case to answer.Legend has it that when your Honour hadcompleted your submissions, MichaelMcHugh stood up and declared: “I adopteverything my learned friend has justsaid.”Later that same year, you appeared,unled, before the Judicial Committee ofthe Privy Council in Coachcraft Ltd v SVPFruit Co Ltd. 2 This was a challenge to thevalidity of a special resolution passed atan extraordinary general meeting of therespondent company. On that occasion,the Privy Council was persuaded byyour worthy opponent, Stephen CharlesQC, (later a fellow Justice of Appeal ofthis Court). That persuasion did notoccur, however, without the recognitionby Lord Wilberforce that the “argumentwas attractively put by Mr Callaway forthe appellant”. 3 You returned to the PrivyCouncil some years later to succeed in amining royalties dispute in HamersleyIron Pty Ltd v National Mutual LifeAssociation of A/Asia Ltd. 4By this point in your career, you hada well-established reputation for perfectionism.You would never take work ifthere was the remotest chance of a clash.You were always fastidiously prepared,whether this involved completing submissionsthree weeks before they weredue, or, as rumour would have it, on theadvice of Mr Jack Winneke allegedly having10 quid at the ready to slip to the PrivyCouncil librarian so as to gain access to allthe necessary library materials.There was only time for you to haveone reader, Albert Monichino, before youwere appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1987— not only in Victoria, but also Tasmaniaand Western Australia. From then on youlet it be known that you would only betaking appellate work. Some thought thatsuch a bold step could mean professionalsuicide for any barrister, but your practicethrived, both in Victoria and interstate.There was only time foryou to have one reader,Albert Monichino, beforeyou were appointedQueen’s Counsel in 1987— not only in Victoria, butalso Tasmania and WesternAustralia.25
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Justice William Charles Crockett AO - Victorian Bar

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