Morgan v District Court of New South Wales

The applicant, Morgan, sought judicial review of a decision by the District Court of New South Wales, which had dismissed his appeal against a conviction in the Local Court. The dispute concerned the District Court's handling of an appeal where the Local Court had allegedly committed jurisdictional error by summarily hearing an indictable offence and convicting Morgan.

The Supreme Court of New South Wales was required to determine whether the District Court had erred in law by dismissing Morgan's appeal, and whether the Local Court's alleged misconstruction of the statutory elements of the offence constituted jurisdictional error. A further issue was whether the District Court’s decision was affected by jurisdictional error, particularly in relation to the interpretation of "offensive" under section 474.17(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).

The Court found that the Local Court had indeed committed jurisdictional error by summarily hearing an indictable offence without the necessary consent. This error meant the District Court, in its appellate capacity, should have set aside the conviction. The Supreme Court reasoned that the District Court’s failure to do so, by dismissing the appeal, also constituted a jurisdictional error. The Court applied principles of administrative law concerning jurisdictional error and the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court over inferior courts.

Consequently, the Supreme Court set aside the orders of the District Court and ordered that the District Court determine the appeal by setting aside the applicant's conviction from the Local Court. The Registrar was directed to endorse the conviction as set aside, and the State of New South Wales was ordered to pay the applicant's costs.