Marschall v Elson (No 3)

In *Marschall v Elson (No 3)*, the High Court of Australia considered an application for a stay of proceedings pending a special leave application to the High Court. The applicant, Marschall, sought to prevent the respondent, Elson, from enforcing a judgment of the Federal Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether to grant a stay of the Federal Court's judgment. This required the Court to consider the principles governing the grant of stays pending applications for special leave to appeal, particularly in circumstances where special leave itself had been refused.

The High Court noted that the power to grant a stay is discretionary and is typically exercised only in exceptional circumstances. In this instance, the Court observed that special leave to appeal had already been refused by a single Justice. Given this refusal, and in the absence of any compelling new arguments or exceptional circumstances demonstrating a need to preserve the status quo pending a further hearing, the Court found no basis to grant the stay. The Court applied the principle that a stay should not be granted where the underlying appeal is unlikely to succeed or where there is no real prospect of special leave being granted.

Consequently, the High Court dismissed the application for a stay of proceedings.