Tran v The Queen; Lu v The Queen; Do v The Queen

These three applications for special leave to appeal, heard together by Dawson, Toohey, and Gaudron JJ of the High Court of Australia, concerned charges of manslaughter against the applicants, who were each alleged to be principals in the second degree. The central dispute revolved around the doctrine of common purpose and its application by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether the Court of Criminal Appeal erred in its determination of the scope of common purpose by applying an objective test. The applicants argued that this objective test was incorrectly applied when assessing whether there was sufficient evidence to go to the jury on the question of common purpose. A further complaint was that the Court of Criminal Appeal declined to consider the ground of appeal that the convictions were unsafe and unsatisfactory, having already found other deficiencies in the trial.

The applicants contended that the Court of Criminal Appeal's imposition of an objective test to define the scope of common purpose was erroneous. They argued that this test was misapplied in evaluating the evidence presented to the jury. The applicants sought to challenge this aspect of the Court of Criminal Appeal's reasoning, even though they had achieved some success in the lower court.