Constitutions: a brief encounter

Abstract

Sir Ninian Stephen was a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1972 to 1982, and Governor General from 1982 to 1989. Sir Paul Reeves was Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand from 1980 to 1985, and Governor General from 1985 to 1990. As Distinguished Visiting Professors of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Sir Ninian and Sir Paul delivered public lectures in the rooms of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, by kind permission of the President, and they are here reprinted with the agreement of the authors.