The High Court’s Gageler J will deliver a lecture at Melbourne Law School titled ‘When the High Court went on strike’. According to the blurb:

This lecture covers a little known historical episode from the early history of the High Court when the justices went ‘on strike’. This historical episode will be used as a basis for a broader exploration of the question of judicial independence.

The speech happens to coincide with the start of a period of reduced activity in the current High Court, which has nothing scheduled between 2nd September and 2nd October. The High Court’s 2016 schedule differs from all past ones since at least 1999, where the Court sat in the first two weeks of September, while having all (or nearly all) of July off. By contrast, this year, the Court sat in the final two weeks of both July and August.

Justice Gageler will present the Allen Hope Southey Memorial Lecture in the law school at 6pm on 6th September.