<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Since the Engineers Case decision in 1920, the role of the United States Constitution in interpreting the Australian Constitution has been diminished, leading to inefficiencies in High Court of Australia (HCA) dealing with constitutional issues. To explain this thesis, the article looks at the 7,657 cases decided by the HCA, from the first case in 1903, to the 31st of August 2020, the centenary of the Engineers Case. The analysis identifies outliers that have much higher complexity (in terms of word-length) than the other judgments. This complexity has one common denominator: comparative analysis with the United States Constitution. The article explains why this common denominator has resulted in such complexity, and concludes with possible research extensions on the roles of the Australian judiciary in embracing SCOTUS jurisprudence when interpreting the Australian Constitution.</p></abstract>

Since the Engineers Case decision in 1920, the role of the United States Constitution in interpreting the Australian Constitution has been diminished, leading to inefficiencies in High Court of Australia (HCA) dealing with constitutional issues. To explain this thesis, the article looks at the 7,657 cases decided by the HCA, from the first case in 1903, to the 31st of August 2020, the centenary of the Engineers Case. The analysis identifies outliers that have much higher complexity (in terms of word-length) than the other judgments. This complexity has one common denominator: comparative analysis with the United States Constitution. The article explains why this common denominator has resulted in such complexity, and concludes with possible research extensions on the roles of the Australian judiciary in embracing SCOTUS jurisprudence when interpreting the Australian Constitution.

The <italic>Engineers Case</italic> Centenary: SCOTUS and the Origins of Australia's Scabrous Constitutional Signature

British Journal of American Legal Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The  Centenary: SCOTUS and the Origins of Australia's Scabrous Constitutional Signature

Since the Engineers Case decision in 1920, the role of the United States Constitution in interpreting the Australian Constitution has been diminished, leading...

The Engineers Case Centenary: SCOTUS and the Origins of Australia's Scabrous Constitutional Signature

Published Online: Jan 06, 2021

Page range: 27 - 106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjals-2021-0001

Keywords
High Court of Australia (HCA), Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), The Engineers Case, Constitutional Signature, Complexity

© 2021 Benjamen Franklen Gussen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Engineers Case Centenary: SCOTUS and the Origins of Australia's Scabrous Constitutional Signature

Published Online: Jan 06, 2021

Page range: 27 - 106

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjals-2021-0001

KeywordsHigh Court of Australia (HCA), Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), The Engineers Case, Constitutional Signature, Complexity

© 2021 Benjamen Franklen Gussen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
High Court of Australia (HCA), Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), The Engineers Case, Constitutional Signature, Complexity