Glennon v The Queen

Michael Charles Glennon applied for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia against a refusal to consider certain points on appeal. The respondent was the Crown. The dispute concerned the application of an amending Act to the Crimes Act in Victoria, specifically regarding the requirement for corroboration warnings in sexual offence cases.

The legal issues before the High Court were whether there had been a miscarriage of justice due to the denial of a warning as to the corroboration of evidence from complainants in sexual cases, and the application of the proviso in relation to the "Maiden and Petty point". The applicant argued that the denial of the corroboration warning arose from a misinterpretation of an amending Act that altered the common law.

The applicant contended that while the Crimes (Sexual Offences) Act 1980 (Vic) generally abrogated the common law practice of requiring corroboration warnings in sexual cases, a transitional provision within that Act preserved the common law warning for offences alleged to have been committed before the amendment but tried afterwards. The applicant argued that the offences in this case predated the commencement of the amending Act, and therefore, the common law warning should have been given. The applicant's submission focused on the interpretation of section 2 of the amending Act, which they identified as the relevant transitional provision.