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Judicial Mediation, The Judicial Process And Ch Iii Of The Constitution, Iain Field

Iain Field

What is judicial mediation, and is it something that Australian judges can or should be doing? A number of commentators have addressed these questions, and a variety of conflicting views have been expressed. This article re-examines judicial mediation from a constitutional perspective. It demonstrates that judicial mediation will ordinarily satisfy the procedural requirements implied by Ch III, and that judges may therefore mediate as a function incidental to the exercise of judicial power. Even to the extent that judicial mediation might not, in practice, satisfy these requirements, it is argued that a constitutional challenge to legislation or rules of court …