Esso Australia Resources v Commissioner of Taxation

[1999] HCA 67
Judgment date
Case number
M53/1999
Before
Gleeson CJ, Gaudron, McHugh, Gummow, Kirby, Callinan JJ
Catchwords

Practice and procedure – Discovery – Legal professional privilege – Whether test for privilege is "dominant purpose" test or "sole purpose" test.

Evidence – Legal professional privilege – Client legal privilege – Test for – Whether "dominant purpose or sole purpose".

Statutes – Influence on common law – Evidence Act 1995 – Applicable in three Australian jurisdictions – Whether enactments affect development of common law – Significance of non-enactment in other jurisdictions – Relevance (if any) of Act to application to review past authority of High Court.

Words and phrases – "client legal privilege".

Evidence Act 1995 (Cth), ss 118, 119.

Federal Court Rules, O 15 r 15.