R v City of Melbourne

This case concerned an appeal by the Crown from a decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria in an action brought by the Mayor, Aldermen, Councillors and Citizens of the City of Melbourne. The dispute centred on the entitlement to penalties recovered for breaches of by-laws made by the City of Melbourne under the *Local Government Act 1915* (Vic.). The Crown contended that these penalties should be paid into the Consolidated Revenue, while the City of Melbourne argued they were payable to its municipal fund.

The High Court was required to determine whether section 721 of the *Local Government Act 1915*, which generally directs penalties recovered for offences against the Act or its by-laws to be paid into the municipal fund, applied to the City of Melbourne. This question was complicated by section 4 of the same Act, which stipulated that the Act would not apply to the City of Melbourne or Geelong unless expressly stated. The Court also had to consider the interplay between section 197 (empowering municipalities to make by-laws), section 223 (deeming by-law offences as offences against the Act), and section 720 (prescribing the procedure for recovering penalties).

The Court reasoned that section 197, by expressly stating its application to the City of Melbourne, effectively brought the City within the scope of the Act's provisions concerning by-laws. It held that sections 223, 719, 720, and crucially, 721, were all applicable to by-laws made by the City of Melbourne under section 197. The Court found that section 721, by its broad wording referring to "all penalties recovered for offences against this Act committed against the by-laws or regulations or in the municipal district or in any way in respect of any municipality," necessarily included penalties for breaches of the City of Melbourne's by-laws. The Court concluded that the general rule established by section 721, directing penalties to the municipal fund, applied to the City of Melbourne, and that section 4 did not operate to exclude this application in the absence of an express statement to the contrary within section 721 itself.

The High Court dismissed the appeal with costs, affirming the decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Consequently, all sums recovered by process of law for penalties for breaches of by-laws made by the Council of the City of Melbourne under the *Local Government Act 1915* were declared to be payable to the City of Melbourne.