Supreme Court of Tasmania

The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the middle level, and is able to both receive appeals from lower courts, and able to be appealed from.

The ordinary sittings of the Court occur in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie in Tasmania. The Court's Appeal division sits only in Hobart.

History of the Court

The Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land (as Tasmania was then known) was established on 7 May 1824 by Letters Patent. The Court is the oldest Supreme Court in Australia and predates the Supreme Court of New South Wales, if only by a period of just ten days. Sir John Pedder, after whom Lake Pedder is named, was the first Chief Justice of the court.

The first counsel to appear before the Court was Joseph Tice Gellibrand, who was appointed Tasmania's first Attorney-General, and took his oaths on the first day of the new Court. The first case before the Court was the trial of William Tibbs, who was found guilty and sentenced for manslaughter, receiving 3 years transportation. [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/TASSupC/1824/1.html]

Jurisdiction of the Court

It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters and hears the most serious criminal matters. It is around the middle of the Australian court hierarchy. The Supreme Court consists of a Trial Division (also known as Original Jurisdiction) and an Appeal Division (or Appellate Jurisdiction.) [http://www.supremecourt.tas.gov.au/about_us/jurisdiction]

Appeals from the Appeal Division of the Court are to the High Court of Australia. It was previously possible to appeal decisions of the Court of Appeal or the Court of Criminal Appeal (both parts of the Appeal Division) to the British Privy Council, but this ceased in 1986 when the Parliament of Australia passed the Australia Act 1986, which barred all such appeals to the Privy Council from Australian courts.

Civil matters involving consent orders, or for disputes involving less than $50,000, are dealt with by the Magistrates Court except in exceptional circumstances.

The Court receives appeals from Magistrate Courts in Tasmania in both criminal and civil matters. Serious (or "indictable") criminal matters are first examined in the Magistrates Court in a Committal process, where it is decided whether a case should proceed to trial, and then transferred to the Supreme Court of Tasmania for trial or (where there is a plea of guilty) for sentence.

It should be noted that this committal process is in the process of being abolished in Tasmania, with legislation currently before the state parliament.

Unlike some other Australian states, Tasmania does not have an intermediate court division between the Supreme Court and the Magistrates Courts (such as a "District Court" or a "County Court").

Composition of the Court

The Supreme Court of Tasmania is composed of seven justices appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Executive Council, a body of senior ministers including the state Premier. The current bench of the Supreme Court of Tasmania in order of seniority (with dates of appointment to the bench) are: [http://www.supremecourt.tas.gov.au/about_us/judges/current_judges]

* Chief Justice Ewan Crawford (5 October 1988); (will be sworn in as Chief Justice on 24 April);
* Justice Pierre Slicer (3 June 1991);
* Justice Peter Evans (10 June 1998);
* Justice Alan Blow, OAM (13 June 2000);
* Justice Shan Tennent (13 March 2005)
* Justice David Porter (26 May 2008)

There is also one lesser judicial officer, called the Associate Justice (previously called the Master), with responsibility for largely procedural matters in civil and criminal proceedings, and for some work in assessing the damages (amounts claimable) in civil proceedings. The current Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania is Mr Stephen Holt (appointed 6 September 1999).

ee also

* Judiciary of Australia
* List of Judges of the Supreme Court of Tasmania

References

*cite web | title=About the Court | work=Supreme Court of Tasmania | url=http://www.courts.tas.gov.au/supreme/about/about_contents.htm | accessdaymonth=30 May | accessyear=2005
*cite web | title=Supreme Court of Tasmania homepage | work=Supreme Court of Tasmania | url=http://www.supremecourt.tas.gov.au/ | accessdaymonth=18 August | accessyear=2006