Dura (Australia) Constructions Pty Ltd v Girgin [2002] VSC 449

In the case of decision of magistrates the position in Victoria is well established by a line of decisions culminating in Taylor v Armour and Co. Pty Ltd [1962] VicRp 48; [1962] VR 346, in which the Full Court of this State held that in the case of any question of fact the Court should treat the matter as an appeal from the verdict of a jury and should not make up its own mind upon the evidence but rather confine itself to seeing whether there was evidence upon which the magistrate might, as a reasonable man, come to the conclusion to which he did come. In saying this the Full Court stated that it was following the view of Herring, CJ, in Young v Paddle Bros. Pty Ltd, [1956] VicLawRp 6; [1956] VLR 38; [1956] ALR 301. The Chief Justice, in that case, adopted as the test whether "on any reasonable view of the evidence that decision can be supported"; a party aggrieved can thus only succeed if a decision contrary to the view of the magistrate is "the only possible decision that the evidence on any reasonable view can support" (see at VLR p.41)

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Judgment (8 paragraphs)

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Cases Cited (4)