Tay v Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW)

In *Tay v Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW)*, the Supreme Court of New South Wales considered an application for a declaration concerning the effect of a statutory stay on a driver licence disqualification order. The applicant, Joseph Tay, sought to clarify whether his disqualification from holding a driver licence, imposed by the District Court, was stayed pending the determination of proceedings commenced under section 69 of the *Supreme Court Act 1970* (NSW).

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the proceedings initiated by Mr Tay to review the District Court's judgment and order operated as a statutory stay on the disqualification order, thereby suspending its operation. This required the Court to determine if the disqualification order was to be considered part of a sentence for the purposes of the statutory stay provisions.

Basten JA reasoned that the proceedings commenced under section 69 of the *Supreme Court Act 1970* had the effect of staying the operation of the disqualification order. His Honour concluded that the order for disqualification, while consequential to a conviction, was not itself a sentence in the criminal law sense that would be excluded from the operation of the statutory stay. Consequently, the Court made a declaration that the proceedings commenced under section 69 of the *Supreme Court Act 1970* in respect of the District Court's judgment stayed the operation of the order disqualifying Joseph Tay from holding a driver licence until 4 August 2014.