Boath & Ors v Wyvill

The applicants, Boath and others, sought special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia concerning the validity of two letters patent. These letters patent established royal commissions, one under the Commonwealth's *Royal Commissions Act 1902* and the other under Western Australia's *Royal Commissions Act 1968*. The dispute centred on the nature and scope of the commissions, particularly the role of an "auxiliary" commissioner and the specification of the matters to be inquired into.

The primary legal issues before the High Court were whether the letters patent validly established royal commissions, and specifically, whether the functions and reporting obligations of an auxiliary commissioner were sufficiently defined and lawful. The applicants argued that the auxiliary commissioner was required to report to the principal commissioner, not the Executive, and that their investigative function was not adequately specified by the letters patent. A further point of contention was the alleged failure to specify the subject matter of the inquiry on the face of the letters patent, as required by the relevant legislation.

The applicants contended that the structure of the commissions, where one commissioner was directed to request inquiries from another and to have regard to their reports, created an "auxiliary" commission. They argued that this arrangement, coupled with the lack of specific terms of reference for the auxiliary commissioner in the letters patent, rendered the commissions invalid. The court was asked to consider whether the principal commissioner's power to define the scope of the auxiliary commissioner's inquiry, and the auxiliary commissioner's obligation to report to the principal commissioner, were consistent with the *Royal Commissions Acts*.