Police Force of Victoria v Sobh

The Police Force of Victoria applied for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia against a decision concerning criminal proceedings against a respondent who was 15 years old at the time he was charged with burglary and theft. The dispute centred on the extent of an accused person's right to access documents held by the prosecution.

The legal issue before the High Court was whether a criminal court possesses inherent power to order the inspection of documents in the possession of the prosecution in furtherance of justice, notwithstanding the general principle that an accused person does not have an unfettered right to discover all prosecution documents. This question arose in the context of a trial judge's decision and its subsequent consideration by the Full Court of Victoria.

The applicant argued that established Full Court decisions in Victoria, such as *Charlton* and *Clarkson*, affirmed that there is no general rule entitling an accused person to indiscriminately inspect all documents held by the prosecution. However, the applicant acknowledged that Mr Justice Brooking, in his judgment, raised the question of whether a criminal court, in 1993, could be doubted to possess inherent power to allow inspection of documents in furtherance of justice. The Chief Justice noted that this proposition was distinct from a general right to discovery.