Landsman v Director of Public Prosecutions

The applicant, Landsman, sought judicial review of an order made by Blanch CJDC in the District Court of New South Wales. The dispute arose from the District Court's refusal to submit a question of law to the Court of Criminal Appeal concerning the admission of fresh evidence on an appeal from the Local Court. The Crown had been granted leave to adduce evidence of admissions made by the applicant to a probation officer after his conviction.

The central legal issue before the Court of Criminal Appeal was whether it was open to the District Court judge to be satisfied that, in the interests of justice, the fresh evidence of admissions should be admitted. A further question was whether the District Court judge erred in not submitting this question of law to the Court of Criminal Appeal for determination.

The Court of Criminal Appeal reasoned that the District Court judge's decision to refuse to submit the question of law was erroneous. It held that the judge had a duty to consider whether the interests of justice required the admission of the fresh evidence and, if there was a question of law arising from that consideration, to submit it to the Court of Criminal Appeal. The Court found that the judge had failed to properly exercise this discretion.

Consequently, the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the order of the District Court refusing to submit the question for determination. The proceedings were remitted to the District Court to be heard and determined according to law, and the respondent was ordered to pay the applicant's costs.