Justice William Charles Crockett AO - Victorian Bar

News and ViewsOpening of the Legal Year: 30 January 2007Ecumenical ObservanceSt Paul’s Anglican CathedralAddress by theArchbishop ofMelbourne The MostReverend Dr PhilipFreierDeuteronomy 30:8–14Psalm 19:7–102 Corinthians 8:7–12Luke 10:30–37THE proposition put in the ancientwisdom of the book of Deuteronomyis plain enough: follow the preceptsof God and you will prosper. “Then youshall again obey the Lord, observing allhis commandments that I am commandingyou today, and the Lord your Godwill make you abundantly prosperousin all your undertakings, in the fruit ofyour body, in the fruit of your livestock,and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lordwill again take delight in prospering you,just as he delighted in prospering yourancestors, when you obey the Lord yourGod by observing his commandmentsand decrees.” As the Psalmist says (Ps19.1), “The law of the Lord is perfectreviving the soul.” The vision of a worldwhere the divine law is the animatingsource of human aspiration is a powerfulone and has motivated many attempts todevelop a theocratic society where thebehaviour of the members of the societywere brought into conformation out ofaspiration or compulsion with the divinelaw. Monasticism and Puritanism mightbe seen as aspirational versions of thisproject and the Inquisition its compulsorycounterpart.Few if any here today would makethe same sort of claims of the law underwhich you practice as solicitors, barristersor members of the judiciary. Eachperson here will have their own stories ofthe fallibility of the law. Is there a lawyeramongst you has not failed in a case or a48magistrate or judge who has never hada decision appealed against? We havepractices and procedures in the law whichenable as far as is possible for the fallibilityof law to be tested, and in this way reacha result that all can share a confidence in.This reality may well be the source of thenecessary and healthy aspirational characterof members of the legal profession toimprove the way the law meets the needsof the society it serves and shapes. Afterall, the law touches the most treasuredfreedoms that we can enjoy, our libertyand the continued use of our property,and has sanctions of compulsion that areable to curtail both. Even without makinganything beyond a social claim for the lawwe must admit its importance and seriousnessfor the wellbeing of the society andthose individuals who form it. It is entirelyproper that there is a recognition of thedemands these responsibilities make onthe members of the profession and thehigh degree of professionalism and commitmentto duty that you willingly give.It is also proper that any transgressionsof this professionalism are the subject ofpublic alarm and media discussion butunfortunate for the majority who upholdhigh standards that the examples of fail-