Supreme Court of Western Australia

Supreme Court of Western Australia

Arms of the Supreme Court of Western Australia
Established 1861
Jurisdiction  Western Australia,  Australia
Location Perth
Composition method Governor appointed by the recommendation of Cabinet.
Authorized by Western Australian Constitution
Decisions are appealed to High Court of Australia
Judge term length mandatory retirement by age of 70
Number of positions As many as necessary to deal with workload: Supreme Court Act 1935, s7A; currently 22 judges
Website www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au
Chief Justice of Western Australia
Currently Wayne Martin
Since 1 May 2006

The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750,000 or more), and hears the most serious criminal matters.

The Supreme Court consists of a General Division (equivalent to the Trial Division in other states) and the Court of Appeal. The General Division deals with serious criminal matters, civil cases where the amount claimed is greater than $750,000, criminal appeals from the Magistrates Court and appeals from other bodies such as the State Administrative Tribunal. The Court of Appeal hears both civil and criminal appeals from cases in the General Division, the District Court and the State Administrative Tribunal.

When required, Supreme Court judges may also constitute the Industrial Court of Western Australia and the Court of Disputed Returns.

The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Wayne Martin who was formally appointed to the position on 4 April 2006. Martin was appointed after a lengthy selection process which followed the retirement of David Malcolm on 7 February. Martin had been one of Western Australia's leading QC's before his appointment.

Contents

History of the Court

The Supreme Court was established in 1861 when the Court of Quarter Sessions (a criminal court for serious matters) and the Civil Court were amalgamated. Sir Archibald Burt was the first Chief Justice of the court.

The Full Court of the Supreme Court was established in 1886 to decide both criminal and civil appeals. In 1893 the criminal appeals were transferred to the Court of Appeal which was then reconstituted as the Court of Criminal Appeal in 1911.

The Supreme Court, Full Court and Court of Criminal Appeal were effectively the one court with each judge able to sit on cases in any of the courts.

In 2004 the Full Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal were subsumed by the Court of Appeal, which, while still a division of the Supreme Court, has judges which sit solely on appeal cases.

Judges

The Bench of the Supreme Court is currently constituted as follows (in order of seniority):

Chief Justice

President of the Court of Appeal

Judges of the Court of Appeal

Judges of the General Division

Masters:

References

Further reading

(Alphabetical list of bankruptcy files held by the State Archives. Covers the period 1857–1928).

See also