Pell v The Queen - [2019] HCATrans 217

[2019] HCATrans 217

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Office of the Registry
Melbourne No M112 of 2019

B e t w e e n -
GEORGE PELL
Applicant
and
THE QUEEN
Respondent
Application for special leave to appeal

GORDON J
EDELMAN J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT CANBERRA ON WEDNESDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2019, AT 9.34 AM

GORDON J: In this application, Justice Edelman and I order that the application for special leave to appeal to this Court from the judgment and orders of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria given and made on 21 August 2019 be referred to a Full Court of this Court for argument as on an appeal. The parties will be made aware of the directions necessary for undertaking that hearing.

AT 9.34 AM THE MATTER WAS CONCLUDED

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2019] HCATrans 217
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

This matter concerned an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia from a judgment and orders of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria. The applicant, Mr. Pell, sought to appeal the decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal made on 21 August 2019.

The High Court was required to determine whether to grant special leave to appeal. This involves assessing whether the case raises an arguable point of law of sufficient importance to warrant the High Court's attention.

Justices Gordon and Edelman, constituting the bench for the special leave application, determined that the application should be referred to a Full Court of the High Court for argument as if it were an appeal. This indicates that the Justices found the case to possess sufficient merit to warrant a full hearing on the merits of the appeal.

The application for special leave to appeal was therefore referred to a Full Court for argument. The parties were to be notified of the necessary directions for the subsequent hearing.

Orders