The Crown v Murphy

The parties before the High Court of Australia were the Crown, as the applicant, and D.R. Murphy and Cove House, as the respondents. The dispute concerned the rejection of a rezoning application by a local council. The High Court was hearing an application for special leave to appeal.

The legal issue before the court was whether the council's decision to reject the rezoning application was vitiated by bad faith. Specifically, the court was required to determine if the council's decision was improperly influenced by the State government's desire to acquire the land at the lowest possible price and to protect the interests of State government departments, rather than by genuine planning or engineering considerations.

The court was presented with submissions that in all three lower courts, it was found that the dominant consideration for the council's rejection of the rezoning was the State government's wish to protect its interests and acquire the land cheaply. Counsel for the respondents argued that this common ground meant the council's decision must have been vitiated by bad faith, justifying the decisions of the Land Court and the Full Court to find for the respondents. The court was referred to passages in the judgments of the lower courts which indicated that the council's refusal was based on the protection of turtles and the interests of State government departments, with no apparent engineering or town planning grounds for refusal.