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Papers by Elizabeth Black

Journal of law and policy transformation, Jun 29, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic tested governments, health systems, and religious communities. Australia pr... more The COVID-19 pandemic tested governments, health systems, and religious communities. Australia prioritised health and community safely over freedom of religion which impacted on religious communal activities, which for Muslims were significant. Unlike Indonesia and other Muslim majority countries, where there is a respected well-established role for ulama, either collectively or individually, giving guidance and rulings (fatwas) to governments and Muslims, in a secular nation, like Australia, it is less established. This paper evaluates the ways by which the three main Islamic organisations in Australia aided their communities during the pandemic and to extent to which they supported their government in implementation of a regulatory raft of isolation and social distancing policies as well as the vaccine mandate. This is done by analysis of fatwas issued during the pandemic. It concludes that by working with, not in opposition to the government regulations, they provided optimal outcomes for the Muslim community and Australia.

Muslim Family Law in Western Courts, 2014

Research Handbook on Islamic Law and Society

I. INTRODUCTION Situated on the Asia-Pacific rim, the two island states of Singapore and Australi... more I. INTRODUCTION Situated on the Asia-Pacific rim, the two island states of Singapore and Australia are each home to approximately half a million Muslims. In both nations there is a significant and recognisable Muslim minority: 3 per cent in Australia and 15 per cent in Singapore. In both, Islam is the religion with the third largest number of faith adherents after Christianity and Buddhism, with Hinduism fourth. Australia and Singapore also have a large number of citizens who have no religious affiliation, around 20 per cent. Both are secular states, with neither Constitution proclaiming a state religion. Each nation is proud of its multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multicultural polity, and both triumph in the respective ways by which they have maintained overall national cohesion. Singapore's Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong describes multiculturalism as Singapore's 'way to a harmonious society'. 1 It creates Singapore's identity and builds a cohesive society from the different racial communities through belief in shared values and then 'sharing those common values in their daily lives'. 2 Former Prime Minister Gillard described Australia's multiculturalism as more than the ability to maintain diverse backgrounds and cultures, saying that it acts as a 'meeting place of rights and responsibilities' including 'non-negotiable respect for our foundational values of democracy and the rule of law'. 3 Both share a common legal heritage. Singapore and Australia were colonised by Britain two centuries ago, thereby becoming inheritors of the common law legal system with its attending institutions, methodology 1

Cultural Expertise and Socio-Legal Studies, 2019

British colonization of Australia had lasting consequences for Australia’s legal system. Although... more British colonization of Australia had lasting consequences for Australia’s legal system. Although designed as a “one law for all system” based on the English common law, the reality was, and is, that there have always been people regulating their lives according to their own distinctive culture and religion. Recognition of de facto legal pluralism, has only recently given rise to instances of de jure legal recognition. The latter necessitated a role for cultural expertise in a range of legal cases. The first considered is how social science expertise was employed in redressing the dispossession of the continent’s first peoples: indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. The landmark case of Mabo No 2 laid the legal ground for native title land ownership which fueled a demand for cultural experts in indigenous traditions, laws, and customs. The second aspect is Australia’s response to recent immigration from non-European nations, including from Muslim countries. Many Muslims continue to regulate their interpersonal relationships exclusively, or partially, by principles of Islamic law and their “homeland” culture. This is particularly evident in family matters and the prism for exploring the nascent role for cultural expertise is through post-divorce parenting orders. The third issue is the extent to which a court can accept an accused’s cultural practice or religious belief as a defense to a criminal act or omission. In all three, who is a “cultural expert” can be contentious. While cultural expertise in indigenous matters is well established, the role for cultural experts in the resolution of family disputes and criminal cases is just emerging.

ANZ Journal of Surgery, 2009

Revamping The Law Tutorial N ad ja Spegel and Ann Black* The lecture/tutorial format is the domin... more Revamping The Law Tutorial N ad ja Spegel and Ann Black* The lecture/tutorial format is the dominant structure through which law is taught in Australia. This article examines the learning environment o f the law tutorial, and suggests approaches aimed at maximising the learning experience for students, on the basis o f students' learning preferences. The discussion utilises Golay's learning pattern assessment in developing an understanding o f the different learning styles o f students. Based on this analysis, activities are advanced which advocate and implement jo in t tutor-student responsibility for learning within tutorials. It is argued that students will learn more effectively, and expand their learning experiences when involved directly in the structure, format and content o f the tutorial itself. Nadja Spegel is a lecturer and Ann Black a tutorial fellow at the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland. In recent years they have published journal articles and presented conference papers on legal education 1

Encyclopedia of Law and Religion

Melbourne Law School, Nov 19, 2019

Long before Brunei enacted its controversial law allowing stoning to death for proven homosexual ... more Long before Brunei enacted its controversial law allowing stoning to death for proven homosexual acts, the Sultanate was considered one of the most ‘worrisome’ states in South East Asia for LGBT individuals. In addition to s 377 of its secular criminal Penal Code, there were laws and policies which prevented LGBT people identifying as LBGT, publicly engaging in gender-non-conforming behaviour, and speaking out, either individually or collectively, for equality and rights recognition. The government’s silencing strategy meant little was known about its small and hidden LGBT community until the stoning law was enacted, when suddenly Brunei, and all its discriminatory and repressive laws came under scrutiny. The Sultan, an absolute monarch, backed away from this law and decreed a moratorium on the death penalty, but the law was not repealed, and the symbolism of its retention, along with an increased punishment under s 377, still sends a clear message to LGBT Bruneians and residents. This article aims to provide an overview of the laws, secular and Islamic, that affect the lives of Brunei’s LGBT people, and to analyse the factors which direct, inform and allow its uncompromising stance.

Bond Law Review

[extract] The parallel, but separate, systems of courts that co-exist today in Brunei are a resul... more [extract] The parallel, but separate, systems of courts that co-exist today in Brunei are a result of these two distinctive imported influences. The British legacy is manifest in the Civil Court system whilst the Islamic inheritance is apparent in the newly reformed system, of Syariah Courts. Whilst the former was retained postindependence to be the dominant institution in the Sultanate's legal system, recent reforms to the Islamic courts and to Islamic laws have signalled the Sultan's commitment to increasing their role and significance for Brunei's predominantly Malay, Muslim population. This is consistent with the nation's ideology, Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB), designed to promote and uphold Malay culture, Islam and the institution of the monarchy as indispensable components in Bruneian development. Inevitably, MIB also impacts upon the current priorities for dispute resolution, including those processes other than adjudication employed in courts, whether the secular common law or the religious Syariah court systems. It is two of these 'alternative' processes, specifically arbitration and mediation, that are the main focus of this article.

The Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWSIA), 2012

Royal Studies Journal

Unlike the other monarchies considered in this issue, where the focus was on the relationship bet... more Unlike the other monarchies considered in this issue, where the focus was on the relationship between the monarch and gender justice within a framework of democratic constitutionalism, Brunei is a case study of monarchy and gender justice in an absolute monarchy. Although this monarchical model is out of step with reforms elsewhere it accords with familiar, albeit rejected, antecedents in western thought. Plato's <em>Republic</em> idealised rule by a philosophical, benevolent, and wise dictator and the medieval writings of Christian theologians like St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas further developed the concept of a king ruling by divine right but with a duty to rule according to divine natural law as interpreted through Christian theology. In Muslim polities, a parallel concept is rule by Allah's vice regent: a Sultan mandated by, and answerable only to, Allah [God]. Today in the Sultanate of Brunei this ancient, and arguably anachronistic, form of governance successfully operates in an ethnic, religious, and culturally plural society. This article postulates that unlike the monarchies of Europe and Japan where "divine rule" was discarded, Brunei's Constitution endorses rule by divine will. With all power—executive, legislative, judicial and religious—consolidated in the hands of one man, the consequence is a stable and affluent society but at the expense of liberties and rights for its people. Women, along with ethnic and religious minorities, are excluded from positions of power and the throne, but all this could be reversed were it the Sultan's will.

The ancient realm of Brunei did not disappear from the 'kingdoms of the earth' but surviv... more The ancient realm of Brunei did not disappear from the 'kingdoms of the earth' but survived to be one of the longest continuous monarchies in the world. Today the Sultanate of Negara Brunei Darussalam' is small independent nation on the island of Borneo which it shares with the two Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and the large Indonesian province of Kalimantan. It is small both in terms of population (400,000) and area with a boundary length less than 400 km. When the Consul General was writing his report in 1885 Brunei was a similarly small equatorial Sultanate ordering the shores of the South China Sea. The settlement pattern mirrored that found across the island of Borneo. Brunei's population was divided into coastal dwellers, who were Muslim, and the rainforest people of the interior who remained animistic. The Malay Muslim majority was clustered on the coast and along the four main rivers - Temburong, Belait, Tutong and Brunei-Muara - which irrigated and p...

The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 2000

... Kristen Walker was Associate to Sir Anthony Mason in 1993 and is a lecturer in law at the Uni... more ... Kristen Walker was Associate to Sir Anthony Mason in 1993 and is a lecturer in law at the University of Melbourne, with specialist ... Mathews Pty Ltd v Paul: 70, 77,100-101,137 Peel (Regional Municipality) v Canada: 136 Pennell v Venida Investments Ltd: 79 Perri v Coolangatta ...

The study of Asia and its plural legal systems is of increasing significance, both within and out... more The study of Asia and its plural legal systems is of increasing significance, both within and outside Asia. Lawyers, whether in Australia, America or Europe, or working within an Asian jurisdiction, require a sound knowledge of how the law operates across this fast-growing and diverse region. Law and Legal Institutions of Asia is the first book to offer a comprehensive assessment of 11 key jurisdictions in Asia