Ryan v Commissioner of Police

The case of Ryan v Commissioner of Police involved the Commissioner of Police, who had issued a short-term closure order under section 104A of the Liquor Act 1982 (NSW) for the premises of a hotel, and the hotelier licensee, who sought to challenge the validity of the order. The primary dispute centred on whether the order was void due to a jurisdictional error, and whether the Commissioner's refusal to provide certain material to the hotelier after the order was served constituted a breach of the duty to act fairly. The matter was heard in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, which had jurisdiction to review the validity of the order under the Liquor Act.

The key legal issues before the court were whether the material forming the basis of the ex parte short-term closure order should have been served on the hotelier at the time the order was issued, and if the duty to act fairly extended to providing such material to the hotelier. Additionally, the court had to determine the scope of judicial review in cases of short-term closure orders, specifically whether it was limited to determining if the order was regularly made, similar to the review of warrants.

The court found that the duty to act fairly did extend to providing the material that formed the basis of the ex parte order to the hotelier, and that the Commissioner's refusal to do so amounted to a breach of this duty. The court also held that the independent scrutiny of the authorisation for the order was limited to determining whether the material in the application could satisfy an authorised justice of the statutory preconditions for the order. The court concluded that the failure to serve the material with the order constituted a jurisdictional error, and therefore the order was void and of no effect. The court issued a declaration to this effect, rendering the short-term closure order invalid.

In light of the court's findings, it made a declaration that the short-term closure order issued under section 104A of the Liquor Act 1982 (NSW) was void and of no effect. The court did not make any further orders as the primary relief sought by the hotelier had already been granted by the declaration.