Roles of the High Court
Section 73: Appellate Jurisdiction of High Court (Appeals)
"The High Court shall have jurisdiction, with such exceptions and subject to such regulations as the Parliament prescribes, to hear and determine appeals from all judgments, decrees, orders, and sentences:
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of any Justice or Justices exercising the original jurisdiction of the High Court;
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of any other federal court, or court exercising federal jurisdiction; or of the Supreme Court of any State, or of any other court of any State from which at the establishment of the Commonwealth an appeal lies to the Queen in Council;
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of the Inter-State Commission, but as to questions of law only;
and the judgment of the High Court in all such cases shall be final and conclusive." (Parliament of Australia, n.d.)
The Queen v Baden-Clay (2016)
Gerard Baden-Clay could again be convicted of murder, after the High Court gave the nod for further legal action. Supporters of Allison Baden-Clay were in a Canberra court, and expressed their joy when the appeal was granted. It allows prosecutors one final chance, to overturn the downgrading of the initial jury conviction.
QUTNews. (2016, May 12). Baden-Clay murder conviction could be reinstated after High Court win [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OJbHLizzMU
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (2016, August 31). Gerard Baden-Clay murder conviction reinstated by High Court. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-31/gerard-baden-clay-murder-conviction-to-stand-high-court/7800556Allison Baden-Clay's longtime friend has expressed her "relief and elation" over the High Court's decision to reinstate Gerard Baden-Clay's conviction for murdering his wife in 2012.
- High Court of Australia. (2016). The Queen v Baden-Clay (B33/2016). https://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/cases/b33-2016/Baden-Clay_SP.pdfCriminal law – Where the respondent was convicted at trial of murdering his wife – Where the Court of Appeal set aside verdict of murder and substituted a verdict of manslaughter – Whether Court of Appeal decision is inconsistent with R v Ciantar (2006) 16 VR 26 – Whether the evidence raised an inference that the respondent killed his wife with intent to do her grievous bodily harm or to kill her – Whether evidence was capable of establishing motive relevant to the intention to kill.
- Aitken, L. (2016). Interpreting R v Baden-Clay: 'Discovering the inward intention', or 'What lies under the veil'? http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UQLJ/2016/18.pdfIn R v Baden-Clay, 5 the accused was convicted at trial of murdering his wife. In brief, no-one saw, or heard, 6 the killing; the body of the deceased, discovered some days after her death, betrayed no injury; the accused consistently denied any involvement in her disappearance, but bore on his face what appeared to be scratches attributable to the deceased’s acting in self defence. By the jury’s finding, the accused lied throughout the search for his wife, and his trial, and deliberately attempted to cover up his crime.
The University of Queensland Law Journal, Vol. 35, Issue 2, pp. 301-311. - Rule of Law Education Centre. (n.d.). Baden Clay case note. https://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/case-studies/crime/baden-clay/Chris Dawson wasn’t the only husband whose murder case was based on circumstantial evidence. 10 years ago, another woman vanished from a troubled marriage, Allison Baden-Clay.
After providing a simple example of circumstantial evidence, Mr Sofronoff KC draws on the QLD case of Baden Clay, where he advocated for the QLD Government in its High Court appeal, which overturned the Court of Appeals' decision to downgrade the conviction from murder to manslaughter, reinstating the murder conviction. This case was built on circumstantial evidence. Mr Sofronoff KC explains how the rules of evidence were applied and how the pieces of circumstantial evidence came together.
Rule of Law Legal Studies. (2024, June 17). Video 7 Circumstancial Evidence & Baden Clay Case with Mr Sofronoff KC [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzUTXTtsS-8
Audiovisual Recordings
High Court of Australia. (2020). Recent AV recordings. https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/recent-av-recordings
11-12 March 2020 - Pell v The Queen
Pell v The Queen (2020)
- High Court of Australia. (2020, April 7). Pell v The Queen [2020] HCA 12. https://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/publications/judgment-summaries/2020/hca-12-2020-04-07.pdfToday, the High Court granted special leave to appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria and unanimously allowed the appeal.
- NSW Bar Association. (2021). A significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted in Pell v The Queen (2020) 94 ALJR 394, [2020] HCA 12. https://barnews.nswbar.asn.au/winter-2020/pell-v-the-queen-/On 7 April 2020, in a unanimous judgment, the High Court granted special leave, quashed Pell’s convictions and entered judgments of acquittal in their place. The Court found that there was a significant possibility that an innocent person had been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof.
- Rule of Law Education Centre. (2020). Case Summary: Pell v The Queen [2020] HCA 12. https://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Pell-v-The-Queen-2020-Case-Summary.pdfOn Tuesday 7 April 2020 the High Court of Australia handed down a unanimous decision quashing Cardinal George Pell’s convictions for child sexual assault. The High Court of Australia’s judgement is significant, not only due to the high profile nature of the Applicant (Cardinal Pell, a high ranking Catholic Church Official) but because it affirms essential principles of the rule of law.
- Buchen, S. (2023, January 17). The acquittal of Cardinal George Pell. https://lsj.com.au/articles/the-acquittal-of-cardinal-george-pell/This legal update, originally published in May 2020, provides an analysis of the The High Court's verdict and its implications for the role of appellate courts in reviewing ‘unreasonable’ guilty verdicts.
Cardinal George Pell was spotted on his way to Sydney, as protesters vandalised Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in anger over his sensational acquittal.
Nine Network Australia. (2020, April 8). Nation remains divided over Pell’s acquittal [TV series episode]. In 9News. Nine Network Australia.
Fennell v the Queen (2019)
- Byrne, E. (2019, September 11). Steven Fennell acquitted of elderly woman's murder on Macleay Island in 2012.The High Court has quashed the conviction of a man jailed for life over the murder of 85-year-old Liselotte Watson in 2012.
- High Court of Australia. (2019, November 6). Fennell v The Queen [2019] HCA 37. https://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/publications/judgment-summaries/2019/hca-37-2019-11-06.pdfToday the High Court published its reasons for unanimously allowing an appeal from the Court
of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland. On 11 September 2019, the High Court quashed
the appellant's ("Mr Fennell") conviction for murder and ordered that a verdict of acquittal be
entered. - Stone, B. (2024). Afternoons on 4BC – The extraordinary case of Steven Fennell [Radio broadcast]. 4BC. https://gnechlawyers.com/afternoons-on-4bc-the-extraordinary-case-of-steven-fennell/In 2016 Mr Fennell was convicted by a jury of the murder of Liselotee Watson after the 85-year-old was found murdered in her home at Macleay Island. The Queensland Court of Appeal unanimously upheld that conviction however in 2019, after six years in prison, the High Court took four minutes to order the murder conviction be set aside and for Mr Fennell to be acquitted. Mr Fennell has now commenced civil proceedings against the State of Queensland and Police seeking $10 million in compensation. (10 minutes)
Steven Fennell who was convicted of murdering an elderly woman has been released from prison after he was acquitted by the High Court.
Nine Network Australia. (2019, November 18). Postman convicted of murder freed from jail [TV series episode]. In 9News. Nine Network Australia.
Matt Doran examines the baffling murder of Liselotte Watson on Queensland's Macleay Island, and interviews Steven Mark John Fennell, who was acquitted over the killing.
Thomson, H. (Director). (2019, November 18). Island of secrets [TV series episode]. In S. Rice, M. Parker, & D. Clarke (Producers), Sunday night: True stories. Seven Network.