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“Every Picture Tells a Story”; Picturing Judicial Biography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2014

Leslie J Moran
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Abstract

In this article Leslie J. Moran turns to objects that are often marginal to legal biography and neglected by those engaging in legal biographical projects; pictures. Drawing upon his previous and current work on judicial portraits the article outlines three biographical dimensions of these legal images. The first explores the legal biography potential of what lies within the frame of a judicial portrait. The second focuses upon the biographical dimensions of the process of portrait making. The third draws upon the now well established insight that the meaning of the object, the judicial portrait, is not generated exclusively by, or confined to, what is to be found within the frame of the picture. This provides an opportunity to consider the role of pictures as a method for use by those engaging in legal biographical projects.

Keywords

biographylegal biographyjudicial portraitsbiographical sourcesbiographical methods
Type
Legal Biography
Information
Legal Information Management , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 27 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014. Published by British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 

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References

Footnotes

1 Haltom, William (1998) Reporting on the courts: how the mass media cover judicial actions, Chicago: Nelson HallGoogle Scholar; Geyh, Chris G. (2007) ‘Preserving public confidence in the Courts in the age of individual rights and public skepticism’ in Bybee, K. (ed.) Bench Press: the collision of courts, politics and the media, Stanford: Stanford University PressGoogle Scholar; Baum, Lawrence (2006) Judges and their audiences: a perspective on judicial behavior. Princeton: Princeton University PressGoogle Scholar.

2 I've explored some of these dimensions in a variety of publications. For example on live performance see Moran, Leslie J (2013) ‘Pedestrian crossings; some reflections on the occasion of a contemporary judicial spectacle’ Dance Theatre Journal 30 25(1), 30Google Scholar; in the press see Moran, Leslie J. (2013) ‘Mass mediated ‘open justice': Court and judicial reports in the press in England and Wales’ Legal Studies 1–24Google Scholar and Moran, Leslie J. (2012) ‘Every picture speaks a thousand words: visualising judicial authority in the press’ in Gisler, Priska, Borella, Sara Steinert and Wiedmer, Caroline (eds) Intersections of Law and Culture, London, PalgraveGoogle Scholar; in television see Moran, Leslie J, Beverly, Skeggs, and Herz, (2010) ‘Ruth Herz Judge playing Judge Ruth Herz: reflections on the performance of judicial authority’ with Beverley Skeggs and Ruth Herz, Law, Text, Culture 14, 198–220Google Scholar.

3 Townsend-Gault, Charlotte (1988) ‘Symbolic facades: Official portraits in British Institutions since 1920’, Art History, 11(4), 511, 511–512CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Goodrich, Peter (1999) ‘The iconography of nothing: Blank spaces and the representation of law in Edward VI and the Pope’ in Douzinas, C. and Nead, L. (eds) Law and the Image: the authority of art and the aesthetics of law, Chicago: The University of Chicago PressGoogle Scholar.

5 Jordanova, Ludmilla (2000) Defining features: Scientific and medical portraits 1660–2000. London: Reaktion Books, 14–15Google Scholar.

6 Jenkins, Marianna (1947) The State Portrait: Its origins and evolution. USA: College of Fine Arts Association of AmericaGoogle Scholar, 1947, p. 1

7 Moran, Leslie J. (2009) ‘Judging pictures: a case study of portraits of the Chief Justices Supreme Court New South Wales.’ International Journal of Law in Context, 5(3), 61–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Moran, Leslie J. (2012) ‘Imagining the judge: fragments of a study of judicial portraiture’ in Modéer, Kjell Ǎ and Sunnqvist, Martin, (eds) Legal staging: Visualisation – Mediatisation – Ritualisation: Legal Communication through Language, Literature, Media, Art and Architecture. Copenhagen: Copenhagen University PressGoogle Scholar.

8 Interview transcript Roddy Meagher 17/04/07 on file with the author.

9 Bennett John M. (1977) Portraits of the Chief Justices of New South Wales 1982–1977, Sydney, John Ferguson, 61.

10 Available at http://www.supremecourt.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/supremecourt/honourable_james_jacob_spigelman.html [accessed October 12 2013]

11 During the course of his swearing in ceremony reference was made of his involvement (while still at school) in establishing an Asian Society to promote dialogue between Chinese and non-Chinese students. See The Honourable J W Shaw QC MLC Attorney General Of New South Wales, ‘Swearing in ceremony of the Honourable J J Spigelman QC as Chief Justice of The Supreme Court of New South Wales’ 25th May 1998. Available at ‘http://www.agd.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/supreme_court/ll_sc.nsf/pages/SCO_speech_spigelman_250598 [accessed 10 October 2013]

12 It's also a valuable biographical resource about the artists but this is not my concern here.

13 Cassab Judy (2007) Transcript of an interview with Judy Cassab 14 February 2007. Copy on file with the author.

14 Palaitis, Josonia (2007) An interview with Josonia Palaitis in Sydney Australia 9th March 2007. Transcript on file with the author.

15 Above note 14.

16 Kirby Michael (2006) Hanging Judges and the Archibald Prize, www.michaelkirby.com.au/images/stories/.../2088-Hanging_Judge.pdf

17 http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_assets/SK-A-2963?lang=en&context_space=aria_encyclopedia&context_id=00047993

18 Above note 16, 3.

19 Above note 16, 4.

20 above, 16, 4.

21 See Kirby Michael (2007) ‘On the presentation of a portrait by Josonia Palaitis.’, 11. Available at www.michaelkirby.com.au/.../2227-PORTRAIT_HANGING_NOV_200... [accessed October 21 2013].

22 Above note 14.

23 Above note 16.

24 Kirby note 21, 12.

25 Soussloff, Catherine M. (2006) The Subject in Art: Portraiture and the Birth of the Modern. Durham: Duke University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar, 5.

26 Law, John and John, Urry (2004) ‘Enacting the social’ Economy and Society 33(3): 390, 395–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27 Brilliant, Richard (1981) Portraiture. London: ReaktionGoogle Scholar.

28 Pointon, Marcia (1993) Hanging the Head: Portraiture and Social Formation in Eighteenth-Century England. Newhaven: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar.