Boyd v Macpherson [1919] HCA 52; (1919) 27 CLR 245 (7 October 1919)

The judgment of the Court, which was delivered by Barton J., was as follows: -

We wish to refer again to what was said by the High Court, including all the members of the Court except myself, in In re Eather v. The King[1]: "As we interpret sec. 35 (1) (b) of the Judiciary Act, the Court has an unfettered discretion to grant or refuse special leave in every case, but we think that the term special leave connotes the necessity for making a primâ facie case showing special circumstances." We have no desire to limit that discretion. It must remain unfettered; but, having considered the arguments on both sides as to whether, having that discretion, we should grant special leave to appeal on the ground that a case showing special circumstances has been made, we think that on the whole Mr. has not established that position, and that special leave must be refused.