Merrilees v The Queen

Merrilees applied to the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory for leave to appeal against a decision of the Registrar of the Court. The Registrar had granted Merrilees leave to appeal against his conviction out of time. Merrilees sought to have the Registrar's decision reviewed and to be heard de novo.

The central legal issue before Refshauge J was whether the Registrar, in granting leave to appeal out of time, had exercised that discretion appropriately. Specifically, the court had to consider whether there was a sufficient prospect of success on the substantive appeal against conviction to justify granting an extension of time.

Refshauge J reasoned that the Registrar is not an officer with statutory independence in the same way as a judge. Therefore, the court retained a supervisory role over the Registrar's exercise of discretion. Upon reviewing the material, Refshauge J found that the proposed grounds of appeal against conviction lacked sufficient merit or prospect of success. Consequently, the application for leave to appeal against the Registrar's decision was dismissed.