Green v The Queen

The High Court of Australia considered the appeal of Green against his conviction for murder. The central dispute concerned the admissibility of evidence obtained through a search of the appellant's property, which the appellant argued was unlawful and therefore inadmissible.

The High Court was required to determine whether the search conducted by police was lawful under the relevant legislation, and if not, whether the evidence obtained from that search should have been excluded from the trial. This involved an examination of the powers of police to search premises and seize evidence, and the discretion of the trial judge to admit or exclude evidence obtained in breach of legal requirements.

The Court held that the search was unlawful as the police had failed to comply with the statutory requirements for obtaining a search warrant. Consequently, the evidence obtained from the unlawful search should have been excluded from the trial. The Court reasoned that while the trial judge has a discretion to admit evidence obtained in breach of law, this discretion should be exercised in favour of exclusion where the breach is significant and the evidence is prejudicial to the accused. The admission of the unlawfully obtained evidence was found to have occasioned a miscarriage of justice.

The High Court allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction, and ordered a new trial.