Smith v Corrective Services Commission (NSW)

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal by Smith against the Corrective Services Commission of New South Wales. The dispute concerned the validity of certain regulations made by the Commission under the *Prisons Act 1952* (NSW), which Smith argued were beyond the scope of the powers conferred by the Act.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the regulations, which purported to grant the Commissioner of Corrective Services broad powers to make rules regarding the management and control of prisons, including the imposition of penalties for breaches of discipline, were *ultra vires* the *Prisons Act 1952*. Specifically, the Court had to determine if the Act delegated the power to create penal sanctions to the Commissioner, or if such power remained with the Parliament.

The Court reasoned that the *Prisons Act 1952* conferred a power to make regulations for the good government of prisons, but this did not extend to authorising the Commissioner to create new offences and prescribe penalties for them. Such a power, the Court held, was a legislative function that could only be exercised by Parliament or by a body to which Parliament had expressly delegated such authority. The regulations were found to be invalid to the extent that they purported to create penal sanctions, as this was an exercise of legislative power beyond the scope of the delegation provided by the Act.

The appeal was allowed, and the regulations were declared invalid in so far as they purported to create penal sanctions.