The Words and Acts of a Black Letter Scholar

Abstract

Professor Denis Ong was a educator in equity and commercial law for decades at Bond University until in death in 2021. This article canvasses the career of Professor Ong touching on his approach to teaching and assessment; his time as a controversial Head of School at Macquarie Law School in the late 1980s and his published books. The article provides some perspectives about critical legal theory which was pivotal to the difficulties that arose in regard the Macquarie Law School and how it impacted on Professor Ong. The article also provides an analysis of the approach taken by Professor Ong in considering significant areas of equity, property law and commercial law in his own writing style sometimes focussing on what he considered were errors by judges. The black letter approach of Professor Ong is clear in his approach to his writing and analysis of case law. The article outlines a number of reviews for Professor Ong about his nine books all published by Federation Press.