2025 Jim Carlton Integrity Lecture

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Melbourne Law School

Prerogative pardons and the rule of law presented by the Hon. Justice Sarah Pritchard of the NSW Land and Environment Court

Theatre G08, Melbourne Law School (Building 106)

Free Public Lectures at the Melbourne Law School

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<h3>2025 Jim Carlton Integrity Lecture</h3><p>Presented in conjunction with the Accountability Round Table</p>

<h3>Prerogative pardons and the rule of law</h3><p>In light of recent exercises of the power to pardon by outgoing US president Biden and recently inaugurated President Trump, this issue is topical once more.</p><p>The rough equivalent in Australia to the power to pardon is the prerogative of mercy which is used in exceptional circumstances to temper the law by providing clemency. The prerogative, seldom used and conventionally said to protect the law’s reputation, was recently used to pardon Kathleen Folbigg after she was convicted of killing her four children, and after 20 years in gaol. In that matter, the Governor of New South Wales exercised the prerogative of mercy to grant clemency to Ms Folbigg, a person convicted of crime. This followed the recommendation by the NSW Attorney General of a pardon and the NSW Governor, Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, accepting the recommendation.</p><p>Justice Pritchard will review the history of each of the power to pardon and the prerogative of mercy (Locke, Blackstone etc), more recent practice in relation to the exercise of each, the relationship of each to the rule of law (including the immunity of the prerogative from judicial review), and more generally political theory and executive or prerogative pardons.</p>

<h3>About the presenter</h3><p><strong><strong>The Honourable Justice Dr Sarah Pritchard</strong></strong> was appointed as a Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales in 2022. Prior to coming to the bench, her Honour practised in administrative, criminal, planning and environmental, native title and human rights law as Senior Counsel at the bar. Her Honour was an Australian Research Council post-doctoral fellow and senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Justice Prichard is chair of the Jessie Street Trust. Her Honour holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (UNSW), a Master of Laws and a Doctor of Laws (magna cum laude) (Universität Tübingen).</p>

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