Amendment of the Marketable Securities Regulations (ACT)

The case involved Lionel Keith Murphy, the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, who made the Amendment of the Marketable Securities Regulations 1973 under the Marketable Securities Ordinance 1971. The amendment added a regulation to list a number of corporations as authorised trustee corporations. The dispute arose over the legality of this amendment and whether the Attorney-General had the authority to make such a regulation.

The key legal issue was whether the Attorney-General had the power to amend the Marketable Securities Regulations to add the listed corporations as authorised trustee corporations. This involved interpreting the scope of the Attorney-General's powers under the Marketable Securities Ordinance 1971.

The court found that the Attorney-General did have the power to make the amendment. The court reasoned that the Ordinance granted the Attorney-General the authority to make regulations for carrying out the purposes of the Ordinance, and this included the power to specify authorised trustee corporations. The regulation was within the scope of the Ordinance and was therefore valid.

The court upheld the Amendment of the Marketable Securities Regulations 1973, finding it to be a lawful regulation under the Marketable Securities Ordinance 1971. The listed corporations were recognised as authorised trustee corporations for the purposes of the Ordinance.