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With commentary by medically and neuroscience-qualified members of the profession, it revisits two referenced scholarly works—by Hayley Bennett and James Allsop—and links their themes to Dr Iain McGilchrist’s “attending” and divided-brain framework. 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The original paper has been posted on the website of the Supreme Court of NSW.  \n2 The primary object of these papers is to invite attention to recent work by neuroscientists on the workings of the human brain, and recognition by  \nmedically and neuroscience qualified members of the legal profession in NSW (and significant others) that a better understanding of the brain may constructively inform the process of legal reasoning and the law itself.  \n3 There are two recently published papers (one by Chief Justice James Allsop, recently retired from the Federal Court of Australia, and the other by Hayley Bennett), and a selection of texts, to which reference is made in the current papers. In combination, they open a door to an engagement between neuroscience, law and legal practice.  \n4 The legal profession and the wider community are invited to give consideration to the importance of paying due attention to the text, context and purpose of the law in all court proceedings including, notably, but not only, those involving a person who is, by reason of incapacity or death, unable to manage his or her own affairs.  \n5 The first of the two papers drawn to attention is Hayley Bennett’s paper entitled“M’Naghten’s Trial (1843), Banks v Goodfellow (1870), and the Neurobiology of Intellectual and Moral Functions: Progenitors of the Common Law Principles for Determining Testamentary Capacity Today” (2020) 48 Australian Bar Review 113.  \n6 The primary focus of Hayley’s paper is the judgment of Lord Chief Justice Alexander Cockburn in Banks v Goodfellow (1870) LR 5 QB 549, the leading case relating to a determination of the testamentary capacity of a testator in a probate suit.  \n7 The second paper drawn to attention is that of James Allsop AC entitled“Thinking About Law: The Importance of How We Attend and of Context”(2023)  \n15 The Judicial Review 61.  \n8 An abstract of each of the two papers drawn to attention can be found in the original “Context in Law” paper.  \nDR IAIN McGILCHRIST  \n9 James Allsop’s paper gives particular attention to the work of Dr Iain McGilchrist, popularised in a book entitled The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (Yale University Press, first edition, 2009; new expanded edition, 2019) .  \n10 That book is widely available in local bookshops in a paperback format and reasonably priced.  \n11 In the first of its two parts, the book deals with features of the brain and their implications for an individual. The second part deals with the history of Western culture using insights drawn from the first part.  \n12 Neuroscience teaches that of the two hemispheres of the brain the left hemisphere tends to be linear, analytical, atomistic and mechanical. It breaks down things into their component parts and deals with them in alinear, sequential way.  \n13 The right hemisphere tends to be integrative, and holistic and is strong on empathy and emotion. It reads situations, atmosphere and moods. It is the locus of our social intelligence. It understands subtlety, nuance, ambiguity, irony and metaphor. It lives with the complexities the left hemisphere tries to resolve by breaking them down into their component parts.  \n14 The two hemispheres each control the opposite side of the body, so that ","cbCaijPObXRStld7","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijPObXRStld7","pdf",184716,11,"English","# Introduction\n## Purpose of the papers\n## Referenced scholarship and engagement\n## Court focus on text, context, and purpose\n## Neuroscience and divided hemispheres\n## Attending as a unifying concept\n# Speculation about Anglo-Australian legal history","[{\"question\":\"What is the seminar paper’s primary purpose?\",\"answer\":\"It aims to draw attention to recent neuroscience work and to how legal professionals in NSW can use a better understanding of the brain to constructively inform legal reasoning and the law itself.\"},{\"question\":\"Which two main scholarly papers are referenced?\",\"answer\":\"The paper highlights Hayley Bennett’s work on testamentary capacity and Lord Chief Justice Cockburn’s judgment in Banks v Goodfellow, and James Allsop’s work on how we attend to law and the importance of context.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper use Dr Iain McGilchrist’s divided-brain ideas?\",\"answer\":\"It connects neuroscience’s left/right hemisphere tendencies and McGilchrist’s concept of “attending” to explain how perception and action are shaped, and why attention to nuance and context matters for social intelligence and legal understanding.\"}]","IN CONVERSATION: Neuroscience, Text, Context and Purpose | PDF",28]