From Australia’s Jewish past

Julius Stone AO OBE – a premier legal theorist, brilliant scholar, philosopher, and writer

Julius was born on 7 July 1907 at Leeds, Yorkshire, England, the youngest of three children of Israel Stone, a cabinet-maker, and his wife Annie, immigrants from Lithuania.

Studying in a crowded and noisy household, Stone developed lifelong habits of hard work and concentration. He was educated at Leeds Central High School. He received a scholarship to study at Exeter College, Oxford, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (Jurisprudence), a Bachelor of Civil Law, and a Doctor of Civil Law, and gained first-class honours in jurisprudence. Sensitive to anti-Semitism and living mostly on bread and cheese, he could not afford the formal dress required for most college activities. He was unhappy at Oxford, but the lectures of J. L. Brierly awakened his interest in the League of Nations, and he found congenial company in the Inter-University Jewish Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.

His next degree was a Master of Laws from the University of Leeds, followed by a Doctor of Juridical Science from Harvard University. In 1938, he was appointed Dean of Law at Auckland University College. Arriving there in 1939, he worked hard to enhance the standing of the law school and to foster relations with the legal profession. Actively involved in the wider community, in 1940, he became President of the New Zealand League of Nations Union. In 1942, following his appointment as Challis Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the University of Sydney, the family moved to Australia. This position Julius held until 1972.

His appointment was controversial for several reasons; he was perceived to have a radical jurisprudential stance, and some wanted the Chair to be held open until the end of the War, as it was suggested that there were suitable candidates in active service. It was suspected that the fact that he was a Jew also played a role. A debate over his appointment was carried out in both the Australian parliament and local newspapers; the Chancellor of the University and two Fellows of the University Senate resigned in protest. This early experience of antisemitism influenced his lifelong commitment to justice. Julius has been described in his official biography as having “a life-long commitment to Israel” and, in the Sydney Law Review, as having an emotional and “fierce loyalty to the State of Israel” that led some of his colleagues to “express fear even to discuss Israel with him”.

There were other controversies. Since 1939, the Jewish community had protested against the British Government’s White Paper, which proposed that Jewish migration to Palestine should end in 1944. Through letters and articles in the Hebrew Standard, Sir Isaac Isaacs condemned such protests as hostile to Britain. Julius replied in a series of articles beginning on 2 December 1943, and consolidated his arguments in the pamphlet Stand Up and Be Counted! (1944), subtitled ‘An Open Letter’ to the Rt. Hon. Sir Isaac Isaacs, who never forgave him. Julius remained a staunch supporter of Israel, influencing the policies of Herbert Evatt and, in the 1980s, of Prime Minister Robert Hawke.

In 1972, he joined the University of New South Wales as a Visiting Professor of law, a position he held until his passing in 1985. During his career, he travelled extensively and held several positions in universities and institutes, including the position of Academic Director of the Truman Research Institute Israel, permanent Visiting Professor of International Law and Jurisprudence at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the Hastings College of Law, USA.

Julius had a view that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were legal under international law and did not constitute a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. He stated: “Irony would…be pushed to the absurdity of claiming that Article 49(6), designed to prevent repetition of Nazi-type genocidal policies of rendering Nazi metropolitan territories judenrein (free of Jews) has now come to mean that…the West Bank…must be made judenrein and must be so maintained, if necessary, by the use of force by the government of Israel against its inhabitants. Julius has been criticised for his views in the Israeli-Palestine conflict by Prof Ben Saul, the current Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney: “Many of Stone’s positions on critical international legal issues in the Israel/Palestine conflict stepped outside even generous zones of plausible or reasonable interpretations of the law, even on the law as it then often ambiguously stood, and certainly in hindsight.” In 1999, 15 years after Julius’ death, the University of Sydney established and named an institute in his honour – the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence. Julius was the author of twenty-seven books on jurisprudence and international law, and is hailed by his official biography at the Institute as one of the premier legal theorists.

During his lifetime, he achieved several awards from universities and colleges. These included the World Research Award from the Washington Conference on World Peace through Law (1965); Officer of the Order of the British Empire, 1973; Officer of the Order of Australia, 1981 and the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence at Sydney Law School, University of Sydney.

Virtually single-handed, Julius introduced the study of Law and Society to Australia. The students he taught, over thirty years from 1942 at both the University of Sydney and the University of NSW, became aware, through his teaching, of the ‘Social Dimensions of Law and Justice’ which, in his view, were an essential part of the study of jurisprudence. This awareness provided a climate of opinion which made possible the establishment of Law Schools, such as that at Macquarie University, which chose to focus on the study of law in a social context. It has been suggested that his ideas have influenced the development of legal rules by State and Commonwealth Parliaments and Courts. His achievements as a teacher were more significant as, while he was at the University of Sydney, the law courses were essentially part-time, with part-time students working as articled clerks in solicitors’ offices or as clerks in government departments. Most of the other teachers at the University of Sydney Law School were practitioners teaching on a part-time basis. Julius’s ability as a teacher, his personality, and the depth and breadth of his scholarship enabled him to reach many of his students and awaken them to the wider implications of the operation of the legal order.

As Jurisprudence and Public International Law were compulsory subjects for the law degree at the University of Sydney, students could not avoid the ideas that Julius had brought to Australia. Despite the opposition he encountered when he joined the university, he was able, within four years of his arrival, to publish his most influential work – The Province and Function of Law: Law as logic, justice, and social control; a study in jurisprudence (1946). Nearly half of this book comprises a part called ‘Law and Society’.

Julius and his wife, Reca, were among the founders of the North Shore Synagogue in Sydney. He died in Sydney on 3 September 1985 after a long illness, which did not keep him from his work. He was survived by his wife, Reca, two sons and a daughter. Both sons became professors in their chosen fields, and their daughter a gold-medal-winning psychiatrist. Scholars from Australia and overseas continue to explore the striking and continuing influence of Julius Stone on legal theory and international law. They introduced new work in the fields in which Julius was both a pioneer and a leader, celebrated his life and acknowledged his impact on generations of Australian lawyers.

The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:
Australian Dictionary of Biography – Anthony Blackshield; Wikipedia, Australian Journal of Law, and Society – John Goldring; National Library of Australia; Julius Stone Biography – Leonie Star; Beginning with Esther – Lysbeth Cohen

The Australian Jewish Historical Society is the keeper of archives from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 right up to today. Whether you are searching for an academic resource, an event, a picture or an article, AJHS can help you find that piece of historical material. The AJHS welcomes your contributions to the archives. If you are a descendant of someone of interest with a story to tell, or you have memorabilia that might be of significance for the archives, please make contact via www.ajhs.com.au or [email protected].