Handbook for Judicial Officers
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Delivery of judgments
How to develop effective judgment writing
The Honourable Mr D Lloyd QC
Five ways to improve your judgment writing
Professor J Raymond
Identify the issues before you start writing
Arrange the issues in a sequence that makes sense
Analyse the issues by using an appropriate pattern of analysis
Write a beginning that provides the context for understanding the issues
Write a conclusion that recapitulates your analysis
Judgment writing in final and intermediate courts of appeal
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC
The architecture of argument
Professor J Raymond
The universal logic of the law
A universal outline for judgments
A seven-step recipe for organisation
Recommended reading
Why write judgments
The Honourable Justice S Gageler AC
Introduction
Sir Frank Kitto’s Answer
Contemporary controversy
Condorcet’s jury theorem
Risks to independence
Costs and benefits
Conclusion
Adequate, sufficient and excessive reasons
The Honourable Justice M Weinberg AO
The justification for giving reasons
What are adequate or sufficient reasons?
“Horses for courses”
Summary justice — Magistrates’ Courts and VCAT
Trial judges
Intermediate appellate courts
The High Court
How should judgments be written?
The idea of the professional judge: multiple versus single appellate judgments
The Honourable Justice P Keane AC
Multiple judgments or joint judgments
Timeliness
Coherence and clarity
Coherence and authority
The High Court
Conclusion
Further references on delivery of judgments