Constitutional Law (Cth) – Appellate jurisdiction of High Court - Appeal from a federal court - Whether High Court has power to receive new evidence in an appeal from a federal court - Whether power to receive new evidence is different in appeals from federal and state courts.
Constitutional Law (Cth) – Interpretation - Relevance of historical background to Constitution.
Appeals – New evidence - Whether admissible on appeal to High Court.
Criminal Law and Practice – Fitness to plead - Issue not raised at trial - Whether material before appeal court suggested issue of fitness to plead at trial - Whether appeal court under a duty to investigate whether an accused was fit to plead at trial - Whether fundamental failure of trial process.
Words and phrases – "appellate jurisdiction" - "appeal" - "fresh evidence" - "fitness to plead".
Constitution – s 73.
Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act 1994 (ACT) – s 68.
Crimes Act 1900 (ACT) – s 428E.
Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) – s 24.
Judgment date
Case number
C5/1997
Before
Gleeson CJ, Gaudron, McHugh, Gummow, Kirby, Hayne, Callinan JJ
Catchwords