Roderick Pitt Meagher (17 March 1932 – 3 July 2011) was an Australian
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
and judge.
Early years and education
Meagher was a cousin of the writer
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987.
White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...
. His family owned a chain of country stores. In 1949, Meagher was Dux of
St Ignatius' College, Riverview
Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Jesuit tradition, located in Riverview, a small suburb located on the Lane Cove River on the ...
.
In 1956, Meagher graduated from the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
with degrees in Arts and Law. He was awarded university medals in History and Law. He attended
St John's College and was House President there and, later, a member of its governing Council for many years. As a student he also served on the executive of the Sydney University Newman Society.
In 1962, Meager married the Australian painter
Elma Penelope Moss. His third cousin is the current New South Wales Court of Appeal judge,
Anthony John Meagher.
Legal career
Meagher was called to the NSW Bar in 1960. He lectured at the Faculty of Law at Sydney University within the same year. After taking Silk, Justice Meagher served as President of the New South Wales Bar Association from 1979 to 1981.
Meagher was a Justice of the
NSW Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...
and the
Court of Appeal of New South Wales from 1989 to 15 March 2004.
He served as a patron to the
Macquarie University
Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...
's ''Macquarie Journal of Business Law''.
He died on 3 July 2011 at the age of 79.
Publications
With
William Gummow
William Montague Charles Gummow (born 9 October 1942) is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. He was appointed to the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong on 8 April 2013 as a non-p ...
he co-edited five editions of ''Jacobs on Trusts'' and again with Gummow and Lehane he co-authored ''
Equity: Doctrines and Remedies'', the preeminent work on
equity
Equity may refer to:
Finance, accounting and ownership
* Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them
** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business
** Home equity, the dif ...
in Australia. Meagher has also made various contributions to ''
Quadrant''. He was described by NSW Chief Justice
James Spigelman
James Jacob Spigelman (born 1 January 1946) is a former Australian judge who served as Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1998 to 2011. He was also Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales from 1998 to 2012. He served on the Court of Final App ...
as "one of the intellectual giants of our legal history".
He was author of "Portraits on Yellow Paper", published by Central Queensland University Press in 2004.
Honours
In 2000 the Senate of the University of Sydney conferred on Meagher—"scholar, lawyer, judge and individualist", as the citation to the Senate called him—the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...
(LLD). The Senate was invited to confer the degree on Meagher for his intellectual contributions to the law in particular, referring to the classic text ''Equity: Doctrines & Remedies'', of which Meagher was and remains co-author, as having helped reverse the general decline of equity jurisprudence: "
at book has probably enjoyed greater esteem than any other Australian legal treatise, not only in universities but also with the Bench and Bar in this country, England and elsewhere. There is no equivalent to it in England, the United States or anywhere else".
The citation also commended Meagher's service to the University of Sydney Faculty of Law, in his capacity since 1960 as lecturer in Roman law and then Challis Lecturer in Equity, commenting that "
s lectures were a constant source of inspiration, delight and guidance for generations of law students".
In 2003 Meagher was awarded the St John's College Medal, by the Rector and Fellows, for his outstanding service to the college and to the people of New South Wales. The awarding of this medal is extremely rare.
In 2005 Meagher was admitted as an Officer 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 ...
"for service to the judiciary, particularly judicial administration, to reform of the building and construction industry, and to the community through the Australian Naval Reserve and conservation and arts organisations .
Individual cases and incidents
* When
John Laws
Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian radio announcer. For 50 years, until 2007, he was the host of an Australian morning radio program combining music with interviews, opinion, live adverti ...
was fined $50,000 for using "gross and coarse" terms on
2UE, Justice Meagher dissented and called for a jail term, stating that $50,000 was the sort of money Laws would spend "on a small cocktail party
* Justice
Mary Gaudron
Mary Genevieve Gaudron (born 5 January 1943), is an Australian lawyer and judge, who was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia. She was the Solicitor-General of New South Wales from 1981 until 1987 before her appointment to ...
, in a speech to the Women Lawyers Association of
NSW
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, brought Meagher into controversy by deeming his comment that "The bar desperately needs more women barristers
ecausethere are so many bad ones that people may say that women ... are hopeless by natur
as evidence of a brooding "wilfully unreconstructed" view of women in law.
* He notably opposed the move of
Sydney University
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...
School of Law
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
from the St James campus on
Phillip Street
Phillip Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. While the street runs from King Street in the south to Circular Quay in the north, the present street is effectively in two sections, sepa ...
in the
CBD to the
Camperdown campus, saying, "As long as it was in the city, the school had lots of barristers and solicitors prepared to lecture there, but those people will not be prepared to struggle up to the University. There has never been a close inter-relationship between the professions and the academics in law ... There's a certain amount of co-operation at the moment but even that amount is going to vanis
Criticism
Patrick Atiyah
Patrick Selim Atiyah, (5 March 1931 – 30 March 2018) was an English lawyer and academic. He was best known for his work as a common lawyer, particularly in the law of contract and for advocating reformation or abolition of the law of tort. He ...
has criticised Meagher's conservative view of legal doctrine in the ''
Law Quarterly Review
The ''Law Quarterly Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering common law throughout the world. It was established in 1885 and is published by Sweet & Maxwell. It is one of the leading law journals in the United Kingdom.
History
The ...
''.
Sources
The Samuel Griffith Society: Volume 3: Appendix III* Damian Freeman
Folly: R.P. Meagher QC – art lover and lawyer''(Connor Court, 2012).
References
External links
Book reviewof ''Portraits on Yellow Paper''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meagher, Roderick
1932 births
2011 deaths
Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Australian King's Counsel
People educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview
Officers of the Order of Australia