Judicial Recusal: Principles, Process and Problems

This handsome and excellent monograph provides a learned account of the law relating to 'judicial recusal'

The author... draws on his rich academic and practical experience to produce a thoughtful and scholarly exegesis on an area of law which has rarely been explored in such a comprehensive manner.

...this is an admirable book which should be a valuable addition to the 'must' library collection of judicial officers and all those who have an interest in the healthy functioning of the justice system in a liberal democracy.
H P Lee
Melbourne University Law Review
Volume 35



The book grapples with many difficult questions, including disclosure of interest, wavier, necessity and issues faced by appellate and final courts. It is thorough, wide-ranging and indeed fascinating. The writing is tight and there is a sense of contemporaneity, though the problem is timeless…Erudite and entertaining, it should also be read by those involved in our plethora of administrative tribunals and other quasi-judicial bodies; decision makers and commentators, politicians and journalists…Day-to-day adjudicators, lawyers and advocates will benefit from this commendable book.
John Rowan QC
New Zealand Law Journal
December 2009


This is a handy little book. Cases in which a judge is asked to recuse often occur without much prior warning and it is good both for advocates and judges to be able to grab hold of a concise treatment of the subject to take to court to help one through the day.
Mr Justice P W Young AO
Australian Law Journal
(2009) 83 ALJ 774 at 776




Grant Hammond has the advantage of being both a distinguished academic and a distinguished judge, as well as having been a successful practitioner. His learning is broad and deep, his analysis shrewd, his exposition lucid and his prose enjoyable. It's hard to ask more of a law book.
From the foreword, Stephen Sedley, Royal Courts of Justice, London



Hammond reviews future developments and possible reforms of recusal law in this splendid Hart publication which maintains the highest standards of intellectual legal titles.

An eminently readable book … to be welcomed for a much needed and highly lucid examination of a controversial and complex subject.
Philip Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor (Richmond Green Chambers)



This work is a real and meaningful contribution to an area of law which in the Commonwealth lacks cohesion

He has provided a rigorous analysis of the issues and laid out in some detail the pitfalls and possible paths forward in this area. As a former academic, lawyer, and now a senior appellate judge, he brings a considerable experience to bear on the issues.

An enormous breadth of knowledge which is lacking in much modern legal writing

This work will be an invaluable resource for judges considering, as well as litigants and lawyers bringing or opposing, recusal applications.
Duncan Webb 
NZ Lawyer Magazine
Issue 129, 5/2/2010



The ... analysis is as readable as it is erudite and comprehensive, encompassing the substantive, theoretical and practical questions that one would expect to find in a learned treatise on the subject – and more. The book is a notable contribution to the literature on recusals, and should be of considerable interest to public lawyers and judiciary watchers.

A brief review of this nature could not sufficiently comment on such excellent scholarship.

Hammond has written an excellent book that should engage scholars, judges and policy-makers alike. Recusal law is much the richer for it.
Abimbola Olowofoyeku
Cambridge Law Journal
69, 1, March 2010



The book is a worthwhile purchase. It is very readable and generally concise.
Robert Howard
Law and Politics Book Review
May 10, 2010



Useful, succinct and intelligent new monograph.

The layout of the book is simple and sensible
Michael Crowell
Public Law
October 2010 



Hammond provides a well researched and readable examination of judicial recusal which easily fills what was a surprising gap in the extensive literature of public law in the common law world.

The breadth of comparative material gathered by Hammond enables the book to provide a useful resource for judges and practitioners faced with the issue.
Matthew Groves
Australian Journal of Administrative Law
Volume 18, 2011