Coco v The Queen

The case of *Coco v The Queen* involved an application for bail before Gaudron J of the High Court of Australia. The applicant sought bail pending an appeal, with the respondent being the Crown. The central dispute revolved around whether the applicant had demonstrated exceptional circumstances warranting the grant of bail.

The legal issues before the Court were whether the applicant had satisfied the threshold requirement of demonstrating exceptional circumstances for bail, and if so, whether bail ought to be granted. The applicant's counsel argued that the application for special leave to appeal was not insubstantial, pointing to prior proceedings where evidence was found inadmissible under the *Invasion of Privacy Act*. The Crown's position was that while the applicant had to demonstrate exceptional circumstances, they were not in a position to concede that such circumstances existed, though they would not oppose bail if the threshold were met.

Gaudron J considered the material before her, noting the sparsity of arguments in favour of the bail application. The applicant's counsel accepted that the inherent jurisdiction of the Court required the demonstration of exceptional circumstances, and that the appeal would be rendered substantially futile if bail were not granted. The applicant sought to rely on prior judicial findings regarding the inadmissibility of evidence as indicative of the substantial nature of the appeal, suggesting that the appeal was not insubstantial.

The Court ultimately granted bail to the applicant.