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Harold Luntz Graduate Research Thesis Prize
2007 Winner
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Dr Simon Butt
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Judicial Review in Indonesia: Between Civil Law and Accountability? A Study of Constitutional Court Decisions 2003 - 2005
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Simon Butt, who analysed decisions of Indonesia's Constitutional Court.
Established during the post-Soeharto reform process, the Court has upheld Indonesia's new Bill of Rights, but writes its decisions using elements of a conservative style employed in other civil law countries. This has weakened both its reasoning and its accountability.
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Citation by Selection Committee for the Harold Luntz Prize for Best PhD Thesis in Law
The Inaugural Harold Luntz Graduate Research Thesis Prize is awarded to Mr Simon Butt for his thesis “Indonesia’s District Courts: Incompetence and Corruption”.
The prize is awarded annually to the Melbourne Law School graduate research student judged to have presented the best thesis in the previous year provided that the nominee meets an overall level of excellence required for the award.
Mr Butt’s thesis is a detailed study of the decisions and decision-making processes of Indonesia’s new Constitutional Court. Mr Butt’s examiners described the thesis as “ground-breaking”, “fascinating and convincing” analysis “distinguished by a scholarly tone and sense of careful logical assessment”.
Not only was Mr Butt’s research project impressively ambitious and innovative, but the thesis presentation is exemplary: it is organised around a strong central binding thread of argument culminating in a conclusion which is not only clear but which builds upon all the evidence which has been presented so systematically in preceding chapters.
The Committee was impressed by the clarity and ambition of Mr Butt’s claims and the judiciousness and precision with which the argument is executed. The Committee unanimously selected Mr Butt’s thesis as a worthy recipient of the Inaugural Harold Luntz Graduate Research Thesis Prize.
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Simon Butt is currently working as a lecturer in law at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Simon's UNSW profile may be viewed here.
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