The ''Melbourne University Law Review'' is a triannual

law journal A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also provi ...

published by a student group at

Melbourne Law School Melbourne Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of the University of Melbourne. Located in Carlton, Victoria, Melbourne Law School is Australia's oldest law school, and offers Juris Doctor, J.D., Master of Laws, LL.M, Doctor of P ...

covering all areas of

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

. It is one of the student-run law journals at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

and is widely regarded as Australia's leading generalist law journal. Students who have completed at least one semester of law are eligible to apply for membership of the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

. Applicants are assessed on the basis of their performance in a practical exercise, academic aptitude, and proofreading and editing skills. The 2025

editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

are Gabriel Dartnell, Selina Li and Angela Stevens. Occasionally, the journal produces a symposium issue devoted to a particular aspect of law. Past symposium issues have focused on the centenary of the

federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...

, contemporary human rights in Australia, and

tort law A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with crime ...

. The Review's alumni include two High Court Justices, three Solicitors-General, five Federal Court judges and at least six Supreme Court judges.

Rankings

The journal has been awarded an A* ranking by the Australian Business Law Deans Council.

History

''The Summons''

The first periodical published at the Melbourne Law School was ''The Summons''. It appeared with the subtitle ''A Magazine of Legal and General Literature'' and was published by the Articled Law Clerks' Society of Victoria between 1891 and 1903. It was a yellow-covered sixteen-page journal depicting an angel with a trumpet on its cover and served as more of a current affairs

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

than an

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

, publishing reports of moots and discussing topical issues, which at the time included the fusion of the two branches of the Victorian legal profession and the admission of women.

''Res Judicatae''

In 1935, the students of the Faculty of Law established ''Res Judicatae'' — roughly translated as "things that have been judicially adjudicated on" — which was intended to provide a forum for discussion and debate among students of the law. Published by the Law Students' Society of Victoria, it focused on legal journalism. Notable publications include C S Lewis on 'The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment', (1954) 6 Res Judicatae 224.

Owen Dixon Sir Owen Dixon (28 April 1886 – 7 July 1972) was an Australian judge and diplomat who served as the sixth Chief Justice of Australia. Many consider him to be Australia's most prominent jurist.Graham Perkin �Its Most Eminent Symbol Hidde ...

on 'De Facto Officers', (1938) 1 Res Judicatae 285. H V Evatt on 'Amending the Constitution', (1938) 1 Res Judicatae 264. John Latham on 'The Law Student', (1938) 1 Res Judicatae 253. and the re-printing of

Frank Gavan Duffy Sir Frank Gavan Duffy (29 February 1852 – 29 July 1936) was an Australian judge who served as the fourth Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1931 to 1935. His total service on the High Court of Australia was from 1913 to 1935. Pri ...

's poem, 'A Dream of Fair Judges' (originally published in ''The Summons''). (1938) 1 Res Judicatae 183.

''Melbourne University Law Review''

In 1957,

Zelman Cowen Sir Zelman Cowen, (7 October 1919 – 8 December 2011) was an Australian legal scholar and university administrator who served as the 19th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1977 to 1982. Cowen was born in Melbourne, and attended ...

(then dean of the faculty and later governor-general of Australia) re-established the journal along the model of the ''

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of ...

'' and renamed it the ''Melbourne University Law Review''. In line with prevailing American practice, top ranking law students were invited to become members of the editorial board. In 1998, the number of issues published each year was increased from two to three.

Alumni

Notable alumni of the ''Melbourne University Law Review'' include:

''Australian Guide to Legal Citation''

In collaboration with the ''Melbourne Journal of International Law'', the journal publishes the ''

Australian Guide to Legal Citation The ''Australian Guide to Legal Citation'' (AGLC) is published by the ''Melbourne University Law Review'' in collaboration with the ''Melbourne Journal of International Law'' and seeks to provide the Australian legal community with a standard fo ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://law.unimelb.edu.au/mulr