Professor Harold Luntz AO

Professor Emeritus

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Overview

Harold Luntz is an Emeritus Professor in the Law School. Until his retirement at the end of 2002, he held the George Paton Chair of Law. Thereafter, he continued until 2008 to teach in the postgraduate program. From 1986 to 1988 he was Dean of the Faculty of Law. He was educated in South Africa and at Oxford University, before migrating to Australia in 1965.

Harold is:

  • the author of Assessment of Damages for Personal Injury and Death (4th edition, 2002);
  • and Assessment of Damages for Personal Injury and Death: General Principles (2006);
  • principal author of Torts: Cases and Commentary (7th edition, 2013); and
  • the author of numerous articles, notes and comments on the law of torts.

He was the General Editor of the Torts Law Journal (1993 - 2011).

His publications include:

  • "Reform of the Law of Negligence: Wrong Questions - Wrong Answers" (2002) 8(2) University of NSW Law Journal Forum 18; (2002) 25 UNSWLJ 836;
  • "Guest Editorial: Medical Indemnity and Tort Law Reform" (2003) 10 Journal of Law and Medicine 385;
  • Three papers at symposia on the New Zealand Accident Compensation Scheme:
  1. "Looking Back at Accident Compensation: An Australian Perspective" (2003) 34 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 279;
  2. "The Australian Picture" (2004) 35 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 879;
  3. "A View from Abroad" [2008] New Zealand Law Review 97.
  • "Damages in Medical Litigation in New South Wales" (2005) 12 Journal of Law and Medicine 280;
  • "Effects of tort law reform on medical liability" (2005) 79 Australian Law Journal 345 (with Loane Skene);
  • "A Personal Journey through the Law of Torts" (2005) 27 Sydney Law Review 393;
  • "The Use of Policy in Negligence Cases in the High Court of Australia" in M Bryan (ed), Private Law in Theory and Practice (Routledge-Cavendish, London and New York, 2007), p 55;
  • "Damages" in I R Freckelton and H Selby (Eds), Appealing to the Future: Michael Kirby and His Legacy (Lawbook Co, Pyrmont, NSW, 2009), p 313;
  • "Editorial Comment: Reliving History" (2010) 18 Torts Law Journal 107;
  • "Loss of Chance in Medical Negligence", paper delivered at the Obligations V conference in Oxford, 14-16 July 2010, U of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper No. 522.

In 2000 he was the inaugural recipient of the John G Fleming Memorial Award for Torts Scholarship and in 2003 was awarded the AILA Insurance Law Prize.

From 1967 to 1984, Harold was the secretary of the Victorian Chief Justice's Law Reform Committee. From time to time, he acted as consultant to other law reform agencies and government bodies. He also served from 1990 to 1992 as a part-time senior member of the Workcare Appeals Board in Victoria and from 1993 to 1998 as Deputy Chair of the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Authority.

Memberships and affiliations

SLS; Amnesty International; VCCL