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Attorney-General for the Northern Territory and Anor v. Emmerson and Anor

Case No. D5/2013
Case information

Lower Court Judgment

28/03/2013 Supreme Court of the Northern Territory (Court of Appeal) (Riley CJ, Kelly J, Barr J)

[2013] NTCA 04

Catchwords

Constitutional law – Judicial power – Institutional integrity – Kable principle – Criminal Property Forfeiture Act (NT) (“CPFA”), s 94(1) and Misuse of Drugs Act (NT) (“MDA”), s 36A(3) operate to forfeit certain property of a person declared to be a drug trafficker – Respondent convicted of various possession and supply offences – DPP obtained restraining order over all property owned or controlled by respondent under CPFA ss 41 and 44 on basis that conviction could lead to him being declared a drug trafficker under s 36A(3) MDA – Only a small component of that property was derived from crime – Whether the CPFA and MDA impermissibly conscript the Supreme Court to the implementation of a legislative or executive purpose – Whether CPFA and MDA undermine institutional integrity of NTSC in a degree incompatible with its role as a repository of federal jurisdiction.

Short Particulars

Documents

11/10/2013 Hearing (SLA, Canberra)

23/10/2013 Notice of appeal

08/11/2013 Submitting appearance (Second Respondent)

15/11/2013 Written submissions (Appellant)

15/11/2013 Chronology (Appellant)

22/11/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General for the State of New South Wales intervening)

22/11/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General for the State of South Australia intervening)

22/11/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General for the State of Western Australia intervening)

29/11/2013 Written submissions (Attorney-General of the State of Queensland intervening)

06/12/2013 Written submissions (First Respondent)

13/12/2013 Reply to interveners (First Respondent)

20/12/2013 Reply

15/01/2014 Written submissions (Attorney-General of the Commonwealth intervening)

04/02/2014 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) (Audio-visual recording)

05/02/2014 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) (Audio-visual recording)

10/04/2014 Judgment  (Judgment summary)