Academy Fellow

At the core of my research is the constitutionality of government power in Australia. I have published widely in that field, including the highly respected book, The Federal Judicature: Chapter III of the Constitution (LexisNexis, 2nd ed, 2020), and the sixth and seventh editions of Professor Leslie Zines’s classic work, The High Court and the Constitution (The Federation Press, 2015, 2022). My peer-reviewed publications appear in Australia’s leading journals including the field-leading Federal Law Review, Melbourne University Law Review, Sydney Law Review, Public Law Review and University of New South Wales Law Journal. My fundamental research has made innovative contributions in many constitutional areas, including the constitutional obstacles to the ‘dialogue model’ of human rights protection in Australia; the institutional and democratic role of juries; the centralising trend of judicial power in Australia’s federal system; the use by courts of formal legal principles to disguise value judgements; the contested constitutional value of liberty; and the impact of constitutional limits on executive decision-making.

My research expertise is applied through my work as a practising barrister. In that capacity, I have appeared in constitutional law cases before the High Court of Australia. These cases have involved important constitutional questions including the validity of legislation authorising the indefinite detention of stateless refugees; COVID-19 measures dispensing with jury trials; preventive justice regimes; jury waiver at the election of the accused; and the cancellation of mining rights granted by corrupt officials. I have also provided advice to governments and private clients on constitutional questions, including on the design of institutions of government.

My scholarship has had impact in three main ways. First, my work has been field-defining and widely cited in academic scholarship. Secondly, my work has been widely cited by courts, including over 20 times in High Court judgments across 17 cases. My work has also been cited by the New Zealand Supreme Court, and in 14 other Australian lower court and tribunal decisions. Thirdly, my research has had an impact on law reform. Most recently, I was invited to speak with the Australian Law Reform Commission for its Inquiry into Judicial Impartiality (2021), and was subsequently appointed an Expert Reader for the ALRC’s report: ‘Without Fear or Favour: Judicial Impartiality and the Law on Bias’.

My research has been awarded the Saunders Prize for Excellence in Scholarship in Constitutional Law (for most outstanding research and scholarship in constitutional law in Australia in 2018) and the Zines Prize for Excellence in Legal Research (for most outstanding article published in the Federal Law Review in 2014). I was also shortlisted in 2022 for the Australian Legal Research Awards, Article (General).

I was a Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project: Law, Order and Federalism, resulting in the publication of Judicial Federalism: History, Theory, Doctrine and Practice (The Federation Press, 2021) (with G Appleby, A Olijnyk and J Williams).

Head of School, Australian National University Law School

Barrister, NSW Bar

• Fellow, Australian Academy of Law
• Member, Australian Association of Constitutional Law
• Saunders Prize for Excellence in Scholarship in Constitutional Law (for most outstanding research and scholarship in constitutional law in Australia) (2018)
• Zines Prize for Excellence in Legal Research (for most outstanding article published in the Federal Law Review in 2014) (2015)

1. J Stellios, Zines and Stellios’s The High Court and the Constitution (The Federation Press, 7th ed, 2022)
2. J Stellios, The Federal Judicature: Chapter III of the Constitution (LexisNexis, 2nd ed, 2020)
3. G Appleby, A Olijnyk, J Stellios and J Williams, Judicial Federalism: History, Theory, Doctrine and Practice (The Federation Press, 2021)
4. J Stellios, ‘Constitutional Characterisation: Embedding Value Judgements about the Relationship between the Legislature and the Judiciary’ (2021) 45(1) Melbourne University Law Review 277-322
5. J Griffiths and J Stellios (eds), Current Issues in Australian Constitutional Law: Tributes to Professor Leslie Zines (The Federation Press, 2020)