Editing Michael Kirby (judge) (section)

==Jurisprudence==
In November 2003, at the [[University of Exeter]], Kirby delivered the Hamlyn Lectures<ref>{{cite speech
 |title       = First Hamlyn Lecture 2003 – "Judicial Activism" – Authority, Principle and Policy in the Judicial Method
 |author      = Michael Kirby
 |date        = 19 November 2003
 |location    = [[University of Exeter]]
 |url         = http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_19nov.html
 |access-date  = 14 October 2006
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060918103412/http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_19nov.html
 |archive-date = 18 September 2006
}}</ref><ref>{{cite speech
 |title       = Second Hamlyn Lecture 2003 – "Judicial Activism" – Authority, Principle and Policy in the Judicial Method
 |author      = Michael Kirby
 |date        = 20 November 2003
 |location    = [[University of Exeter]]
 |url         = http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_20nov.html
 |access-date  = 14 October 2006
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060918105140/http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_20nov.html
 |archive-date = 18 September 2006
}}</ref> on the subject of [[judicial activism]]. Rejecting the doctrine of [[strict constructionism]], Kirby declared that:<blockquote>Clearly it would be wrong for a judge to set out in pursuit of a personal policy agenda and hang the law. Yet it would also be wrong, and futile, for a judge to pretend that the solutions to all of the complex problems of the law today, unresolved by incontestably clear and applicable texts, can be answered by the application of nothing more than purely verbal reasoning and strict logic to words written by judges in earlier times about the problems they then faced... contrary to myth, judges do more than simply apply law. They have a role in making it and always have.</blockquote>These lectures sparked a debate in the Australian media, echoing an ongoing debate in the United States, as to whether judges have the right to interpret the law in the light of its intent and considerations of [[Natural law#Contemporary jurisprudence|natural law]] or whether judges should (or can) simply follow the letter of the law, leaving questions of its intent and underlying principles to elected representatives.

Following increasing public scrutiny into, and characterisations of, High Court judgments as 'activist' in the late 1990s, a number of members of the Court agreed to give interviews in the 1998 documentary ''The Highest Court''. Kirby was one of the few members of the Court who did not take part.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Highest Court|url=https://www.filmartmedia.com/projects/the-highest-court/|access-date=2021-04-23|website=Film Art Media}}</ref><ref name="youtube1998">{{Citation|title=The Highest Court (1998) – Documentary on the High Court of Australia| date=20 February 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQUH1NpidoA|access-date=2021-04-23}}</ref> An insight into Kirby's jurisprudence and judicial style can be found in his engagement with Gavin Griffith QC in ''[[Kruger v Commonwealth]],'' which is featured in the documentary.<ref name="youtube1998"/>

He had also addressed this topic in a 1997 speech to the Bar Association of India, in which he spoke approvingly of "a kind of 'judicial activism' that is often in tune with the deeply felt emotions of ordinary citizens".<ref>{{cite speech
 |title       = Bar Association of India Lecture 1997 – Judicial Activism
 |author      = Michael Kirby
 |date        = 6 January 1997
 |location    = New Delhi Hilton Hotel
 |url         = http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_indialt.htm
 |access-date  = 14 October 2006
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20060918112058/http://www.hcourt.gov.au/speeches/kirbyj/kirbyj_indialt.htm
 |archive-date = 18 September 2006
}}</ref> Nonetheless, Kirby is critical of the term "judicial activism" when it is used as "code language", applied chiefly by conservative commentators to views and to people with which they disagree.<ref>{{cite episode
 | title = The Great Dissenter: Justice Michael Kirby
 | series = Sunday Profile
 | series-link = Sunday Profile
 | airdate = 25 November 2007
 | url = http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/s2100123.htm
 | access-date = 2 December 2007
 | archive-date = 28 November 2007
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071128105903/http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/s2100123.htm
 | url-status = dead
 }}</ref>