Williams v The King [No 1]

This case concerned an appeal to the High Court of Australia from a decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal of New South Wales. The applicant, Harold Roy Williams, had pleaded guilty to offences against the Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914-1932 in a New South Wales Court of Quarter Sessions and received concurrent sentences of imprisonment. The Attorney-General of New South Wales, acting under a commission to prosecute Commonwealth offences and purportedly under state and federal legislation, appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal on the grounds of inadequate sentence. The Court of Criminal Appeal increased the sentences, and Williams sought special leave to appeal to the High Court, arguing the initial appeal to the state Court of Criminal Appeal was incompetent.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Attorney-General of New South Wales was entitled to appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal of that State against a sentence imposed for an indictable offence against a law of the Commonwealth. This involved determining the scope and effect of section 5D of the *Criminal Appeal Act 1912-1924* (NSW) in conjunction with sections 68 and 69 of the *Judiciary Act 1903-1932* (Cth), and the nature of the commission granted to state law officers to prosecute Commonwealth offences.

The High Court held that the Attorney-General of New South Wales was not entitled to appeal against the sentence. While section 68 of the *Judiciary Act* applied state procedural laws to federal offences, and section 5D of the *Criminal Appeal Act* granted the state Attorney-General a right of appeal against sentences in state matters, this right did not extend to federal offences. The Court reasoned that the power to prosecute federal offences, even when delegated to state law officers by commission under section 69 of the *Judiciary Act*, did not confer a right to appeal against sentences. Such a right, if it existed, would be exercisable by the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, not the state Attorney-General acting in their state capacity.

Consequently, the High Court granted special leave to appeal, allowed the appeal, and discharged the order of the Court of Criminal Appeal of New South Wales. This meant the original sentences imposed on Mr. Williams were reinstated, subject to any appeal that might be properly instituted by the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth.