Reassessing cigamatic: A doctrinal, pragmatic and jurisprudential critique

Pruiti, Colin (1994) Reassessing cigamatic: A doctrinal, pragmatic and jurisprudential critique. Honours thesis, Murdoch University.

Abstract

In a federal system, the ability of one tier of government to legislatively bind another strikes at the heart of inter-governmental relations. In 1962, a majority of the High Court in Cigamatic held that the States' were incapable of binding the Commonwealth Executive. The practical result of the decision was to centralise political power in Australia and largely subject the States to the Commonwealth's will. This paper posits that the realisation of this result is beyond the proper constitutional function vested in the High Court. This aspect materialises in the reasoning of Cigamatic in the form of a plethora of defects. These defects are analysed at three levels, namely, the doctrinal, pragmatic and jurisprudential. Each level illustrates that the Cigamatic doctrine is guided more closely by the personal prejudices of the Justices rather than constitutional principle. The paper outlines an alternative solution to the Cigamatic doctrine based upon s 109 of the Commonwealth Constitution which more closely reflects current community values.

Item Type:	Thesis (Honours)
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Law
Notes:	Note to the author: If you would like to make your thesis openly available on Murdoch University Library's Research Repository, please contact: repository@murdoch.edu.au. Thank you.
Supervisor(s):	Schoombee, Johannes and Thompson, James
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/51246

Item Control Page