Jeffrey Denys Goldsworthy is an Australian academic and legal philosopher. He is known for his work in

philosophy of law Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of law and law's relationship to other systems of norms, especially ethics and political philosophy. It asks questions like "What is law?", "What are the criteria for legal vali ...

, as well as constitutional theory and interpretation. He held a Personal Chair at

Monash University Faculty of Law Monash University Faculty of Law, or Monash Law School, is the law school of Monash University. Founded in 1963, it is based in Melbourne, Victoria and has campuses in Malaysia and Italy. It is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools i ...

from 2000 to 2016. He was the President of the Australian Society of Legal Philosophy from 2007 to 2014. He is known for work on parliamentary sovereignty, especially for his book ''The Sovereignty of Parliament: History and Philosophy''. In constitutional theory, he is a proponent of

originalism In the context of United States law, originalism is a theory of constitutional interpretation that asserts that all statements in the Constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding "at the time it was adopted". This conce ...

. He is the younger brother of author

Peter Goldsworthy Peter David Goldsworthy AM (born 12 October 1951) is an Australian writer and medical practitioner. He has won major awards for his short stories, poetry, novels, and opera libretti. Goldsworthy began his writing life as a poet, as described i ...

. Goldsworthy was elected Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Austr ...

(FASSA) in 2008. In the

2020 Australia Day Honours The 2020 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2020 by the Governor General of Australia, David Hurley. The Australia ...

Goldsworthy was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) for "significant service to education, particularly to legal history and philosophy".

References

Philosophers of law Living people Academic staff of Monash University Australian legal scholars Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia {{Australia-philosopher-stub