Truth Decay and its Implications for the Judiciary

Home » Events » Truth Decay and its Implications for the Judiciary

This event has been relocated to CIS, Level 1, 131 Macquarie Street, Sydney. It will not take place at the Banco Court as previously advertised.

In the 21^st Acton Lecture presented by the Centre for Independent Studies, the Honourable Andrew Bell, Chief Justice of New South Wales, examines the problem of ‘truth decay’ and its implications for the administration of justice in Australia.

Our courts are concerned with the kind of truth that has an evidentiary basis tested by the adversarial system and one that is highly specific to the particular question brought before the court by the parties to the litigation. However, postmodern notions of subjective truth have taken hold in our society and these, in turn, are having an impact on the pursuit of the form of truth with which the courts have been concerned.

What are the characteristics of ‘truth decay’? How does this decay affect the relationship between truth, honesty and justice as it applies to the judicial process? Chief Justice Bell evaluates the problem of ‘truth decay’ as an issue of considerable public interest and considers its implications for the rule of law and the administration of justice in Australia.

Join Chief Justice Andrew Bell for the CIS’s 21^st Acton Lecture and then for a conversation about the issue of ‘truth decay’ with Peter Kurti, Director of the Culture, Prosperity & Civil Society program at the CIS.

The Hon. Andrew Bell is the Chief Justice of New South Wales, appointed in March 2022. Previously, he was President of the NSW Court of Appeal and the Judicial Commission of NSW. A distinguished scholar with degrees from the University of Sydney and Oxford, Chief Justice Bell has extensive experience in law and arbitration. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney and a former Chairman of Sculpture by the Sea.

Peter Kurti is director of the Culture, Prosperity & Civil Society program at CIS and is also Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Law and Business at the University of Notre Dame Australia.