In March 1967, South Australian Premier Don Dunstan appointed his
State's most outstanding barrister as Chief Justice: John Jefferson
Bray. In public, Bray's appointment brought barely a ripple, but in the
murky urban waters of Adelaide's corridors of power, this decision
unleashed waves of outrage and bitter revenge seeking. After his
successful defense of Rupert Murdoch's News in 1960 in a seditious libel
case, John Jefferson Bray made a powerful enemy who coveted the position
that Chief Justice Bray would come to hold; an enemy who would then
ruthlessly target Bray's unconventional private life. Conditions would
eventually lead to the sacking of a police commissioner, the resignation
of Dunstan, and the early retirement of Bray. This is the story of an
extraordinarily gifted man whose judicial writings continue to be cited
across the Commonwealth and who was determined to defend not only his
own natural right to a private life, but that of all citizens. As the
Honorable Michael Kirby relates in his Foreword, the abuse of power,
recorded in those pages, stands as a warning to us. *** This
biography...unravel(s) the puzzle of how such a gifted legal scholar,
advocate and judge could, at the same time, live a life that so outraged
the orthodox expectations that ascended upon him. - From the Foreword by
the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG *** What a fascinating life! What a
gripping book! Yes, I did select the word 'gripping' to describe the
life of the Chief Justice of an Australian state, South Australia. Not
only by reason of the fact that the highest levels of the police
apparatus were apparently involved in opposing his nomination in 1967,
but as a result of the maintenance of active surveillance files touching
upon his person and activities for years to come. His biographer
succeeds in demonstrating that such oversights represent a major threat
to judicial independence but the ultimate value of this book is
presenting the life and thoughts of a truly great man whose ideas ought
to continue to influence contemporary jurisprudence. -- Justice Gilles
Renaud, Ontario Court of Justice, Provincial Judges' Journal, Winter
2016 (Series: Biography) [Subject: Biography, Australian Studies,
Politics, Legal History]
