Torts – Trespass to land - Power of police to enter private premises - Police officers went to suburban flat after receiving report of male and female arguing - Police treated report as "violent domestic" - Occupier invited police to "look around the flat" - Occupier later asked police to leave premises - Police did not leave and remained on premises for longer than it would reasonably have taken them to leave - Whether statutory justification for police to remain on premises - Proper construction of Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) ss 357F and 357H - Whether express refusal by occupier immediately terminated authority of police "to so enter or remain" on premises, irrespective of fulfilment of purposes for which entry effected.
Torts – Trespass to land - Power of police to enter private premises - Whether common law justification for police to remain on premises - Whether entry could be justified as directed to preventing a breach of the peace.
Words and phrases – "enter or remain", "expressly refused", "breach of the peace".
Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) – ss 357F-357I.
Judgment date
Case number
S649/2007
Before
Gleeson CJ, Gummow, Kirby, Hayne, Heydon JJ
Catchwords