The Liabilities of Commonwealth and State Governments under the Constitution

Litigation against a government presupposes that it is amenable to suit and there is a court of competent jurisdiction. This paper deals with the amenability to suit of, and the jurisdiction of courts over, the executive governments of the Australian Commonwealth and States. Its purpose is to contrast the considerable differences between those governments' liabilities as determined by the courts, and to explain why those differences are a necessary consequence of the working out of the Constitution