Louis Waller

Peter Louis Waller (10 February 1935 – 8 October 2019) was an Australian jurist. He was particularly well known for his work in evidence, medical and criminal law. He was Sir Leo Cussen Professor of Law at Monash University from 1965 until 2000, and thereafter Emeritus Professor. From 1968 to 1970 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Law at Monash University. Professor Waller previously served as Visiting Professor and Research Fellow in several universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Israel.

Personal life

Waller was born in Siedlce, Poland, on 10 February 1935. He was the only child of Jankiel (Jack) and Haya (Hilda) Waligora. Realising their Jewish family was in danger of persecution from the increasingly threatening National Socialist regime in Germany, Waller's parents managed to flee to Australia in 1938. Upon landing in Melbourne, the family changed its name to Waller. The majority of his family remained in Europe, however, and they were murdered during the Holocaust.

In Australia, Waller attended University High School in Melbourne. He then studied law at the University of Melbourne, obtaining a Bachelor of Laws with Honours. When he graduated in 1956, he went to England where he obtained a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) with First Class Honours. while Burnside has described him as "the best teacher I have ever seen".

At Monash, he developed his expertise in the criminal law, and authored the first Australian casebook in that field. Through his teaching and research, he is credited with elevating the status of criminal law in Australia, a field which had often been looked down upon. When the Victorian Government created the first IVF legislation, it largely adopted Waller's model.

As his career progressed, he became recognised as one of Australia's leading scholars. In 1982, he became the first Law Reform Commissioner of Victoria and, two years later, became the inaugural Chair of the Victorian Law Reform Commission. His expertise in the field of medical law has led to appointments on a number of medical and judicial committees. He is Chairman of the Infertility Treatment Authority, the Appeals Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and the Ethics Committee of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. In 2005 he received an honorary LLD (Doctor of Laws) degree from Monash University.