New South Wales Court of Appeal


The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for civil matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian state of New South Wales.

Jurisdiction

The Court of Appeal operates pursuant to the. The Court hears appeals from a variety of courts and tribunals in New South Wales, in particular the Supreme Court, the Industrial Court, the Land and Environment Court, the District Court, the Dust Diseases Tribunal, the Workers Compensation Commission, and the Government and Related Employees Appeal Tribunal. The Court of Appeal must grant leave to appeal a judgment of an inferior court, before it hears the appeal proper.
If a petitioner is not satisfied with the decision made by the Court of Appeal, application may be made to the High Court of Australia for special leave to appeal the decision before the High Court. Because special leave is only granted by the High Court under certain conditions, the Court of Appeal is in effect a court of final appeal for many matters.

History

Although the New South Wales Court of Appeal commenced operation on 1 January 1966 with the appointment of the President, Sir Gordon Wallace, and six Judges of Appeal, Bernard Sugerman, Charles McLelland, Cyril Walsh, Kenneth Jacobs, Kenneth Asprey and John Holmes Dashwood, the Court of Appeal was established in 1965, replacing the former appellate Full Court of the New South Wales Supreme Court. The advent of the Court of Appeal was controversial, as it introduced another order and unexpectedly uprooted the established order of hierarchy and seniority among judges of the Supreme Court.

Current Composition

The Court of Appeal, as of 2020, consists of the Chief Justice of New South Wales, the President of the Court of Appeal and ten judges of appeal. There are eleven judges of appeal with current commissions. However, two of them, Justice Hoeben and Justice Ward are not operating full-time as judges of appeal. Justice Hoeben is Chief Judge at Common Law, Justice Ward is Chief Judge in Equity. In addition there are three acting judges of appeal, Justices Barrett, Emmett and Simpson, who do not sit full time.
Judges who may form a panel or hear sentence appeals from the Drug Court alone are listed below:
NameTitleTerm beganTime in office
01.06.2011
28.02.2019
23 4 2012
21 2 2013
12.11.2012
15 3 2017
02.05.2005
08.09.2008
10.08.2011
29.04.2013
03.06.2013
30.03.2016
15.03.2017
22.08.2018
30 1 2019
Acting Judge of Appeal16 3 2016
Acting Judge of Appeal07.03.2013
Acting Judge of Appeal30 3 2018

Most judges in the Court of Appeal also sit on the Court of Criminal Appeal in varying degrees of frequency. The Chief Judge at Common Law, Justice Hoeben, and the Chief Judge in Equity, Justice Ward, also sit on the Court of Appeal from time to time.

Presidents of the Court of Appeal