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Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
This Act sets out how the High Court runs: how proceedings start, how writs and seals are issued, how cases move between registries, how evidence and jury trials are handled, and how judgments are enforced and appealed. It governs litigants, solicitors, registrars, marshals, receivers and State courts. The Court and its Justices exercise broad procedural discretion (e.g. transfers, amendments, security on appeal s7, s23, s35). Parties bear certain administrative costs (notably telegraph/transmission expenses s9–10) and must use prescribed forms, seals and timelines.
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Direct links to the current provisions in High Court Procedure Act 1903.
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
HIGH COURT PROCEDURE.
No. 7 of 1903.
An Act to regulate the Practice and Procedure of the High Court.
[Assented to 28th August, 1903.]
BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows :—
Part I.—Preliminary.
Short title.
Part I.—Preliminary, ss. 1, 2.
| Part II.—Procedure of the High Court | Seals, &c, ss. 3-5.District Registries, ss. 6-11.Trial of Issues, ss. 12-15.Evidence, ss. 16-22.Defects and Errors, ss. 23, 24.Change of Venue, s. 25.Judgment and Execution, ss. 26-28.Receivers and Managers, ss. 29, 30.Actions by and against the Marshal, s. 31.Rules of Court, ss. 32-34. |
|---|---|
| Part III.—Appeals to the High Court | Security, ss. 35, 36.Procedure, ss. 37-39. |
The Schedule.
Interpretation.
“Suit” includes any action or original proceeding between parties;
“Cause” includes any suit, and also includes criminal proceedings;
“Matter” includes any proceeding in a Court, whether between parties or not, and also any incidental proceeding in a cause or matter;
“Plaintiff” includes any person seeking any relief against any other person by any form of proceeding in a Court;
“Defendant” includes any person against whom any relief is sought in a matter, or who is required to attend the proceedings in a matter as a party thereto;
“Justice” in the expressions “Court or Justice” or “Court or a Justice” means a Justice of the High Court sitting in Chambers;
“The Chief Justice” includes any Justice upon whom the powers and duties of the Chief Justice devolve for the time being;
“Judgment” includes any judgment decree order or sentence;
“Full Court” means two or more Justices of the High Court sitting together;
“Appeal” includes an application for a new trial and any proceeding to review or call in question the proceedings decision or jurisdiction of any Court or Judge.
Part II.—Procedure of the High Court.
Seals.
Seals.
3.—(1.) The High Court shall have and use as occasion requires a Seal, having inscribed thereon the words “The Seal of the High Court of Australia.” Such seal shall be kept at the Principal Registry, in such custody as the Chief Justice directs.
(2.) There shall be kept at every District Registry, in such custody as the Chief Justice directs, a duplicate of the Seal having inscribed thereon the additional word “Registry” with the name of the State prefixed, and also if there are more District Registries than one in the State, such other distinctive word as the Chief Justice directs.
(3) There shall also be kept and used at the Principal Registry and at the several District Registries such other seals as are required for the business of the Court. Such seals shall be in such form and shall be kept in such custody as the Chief Justice directs.
(4.) All documents and all exemplifications and copies thereof purporting to be sealed with any such seal shall in all parts of the Commonwealth be receivable in evidence without further proof of the seal.
Use of seals.
U.S. 911.
4.—(1.) All writs commissions and process issued from the High Court shall be in the name of the King, and shall be under the Seal of the Court or such other seal as is prescribed by Rules of Court, and shall be signed by a Registrar or other proper officer.
(2.) They shall be tested in the name of the Chief Justice, or when the office of Chief Justice is vacant in the name of the senior Justice.
Date of process.
U.S. 912.
District Registries.
Proceedings in District Registries.
Jud. Act 1873, sec. 64.
6.—(1.) Subject to this Act and to Rules of Court, writs of summons for the commencement of causes in the High Court may be issued in any Registry, and every Registrar shall issue such writs when required, and unless an order to the contrary is made by the High Court or a Justice all such further proceedings as may and ought to be taken by the respective parties to the cause, down to and including final judgment and execution, may be taken and recorded in the District Registry in which the cause is pending.
English Rules, O. 12 rr. 5-7.
(2.) Provided that if a defendant against whom a writ is issued in a District Registry neither resides nor carries on business in the State in which the Registry is situated, he may appear either at that Registry or at the Principal Registry.
(3.) If any defendant appears at the Principal Registry the cause shall, subject to the power of transfer, proceed in that Registry, and the proceedings in the cause shall be transmitted thereto by the District Registrar in the manner .directed by the next following section.
Transfer of causes from one Registry to another.
Ib. s. 65.
7.—(1.) Any party to a cause in the High Court may at any time apply to the Court or a Justice for an order that the cause be transferred from the Registry in which it is pending, if that is not the Principal Registry, to the Principal Registry or some other Registry, or from the Principal Registry to a District Registry, and the Court or Justice may in his discretion make an order accordingly.
(2.) Thereupon the proceedings and such original documents (if any) as are filed in the Registry in which the cause is pending shall be transmitted by the Registrar of that Registry to the Registry to which the cause is ordered to be transferred, and the cause shall thenceforth proceed in that Registry in the same manner as if it had been there originally commenced, and may thereafter be again transferred in like manner to any other Registry.
Temporary transfer.
Qd. rules.
8.—*(1.) When a cause is pending in a District Registry and any party desires to make an application therein to the Court or a Justice, but is unable to do so by reason of there being no Justice of the High Court present in the place where the Registry is situated, the party may lodge with the District Registrar a request that the cause be transferred for the purpose of the application only to the Principal Registry or to some nearer District Registry at which a Justice of the High Court is present or appointed to sit, and the cause shall thereupon without further order be transferred accordingly.
(2.) The District* Registrar shall thereupon transmit the request to such other Registry together with such documents as are necessary for the purpose of the application.
(3.) The application may then be heard and disposed of at such other Registry, and as soon as it has been disposed of the cause shall
*See Act No. 13 of 1903, infra, p. 96.
without further order be retransferred to the first-mentioned District* Registry, and all documents relating to it shall be retransmitted to that Registry.
(4.) No fee shall be payable in respect of any such transfer or retransfer.
(5.) In any of the cases mentioned in this section, if the application is to be made upon notice to any person, the notice may be given of the application to be made before the Court or a Justice at the Registry to which the cause is transferred, on a day to be fixed by the District* Registrar of the first-mentioned Registry.
Transmission of documents by telegraph.
Qd. Insolvency Act of 1874.
9.—(1.) In any such case as mentioned in the last preceding section, any party desiring to make an immediate application to the High Court or a Justice may, instead of requesting that the cause be transferred to such other Registry, require the District* Registrar to transmit by telegraph to such other Registry the contents of all such documents filed in the first-mentioned District* Registry as are necessary for the purpose of the application, and the District* Registrar shall, on payment by such party of the expense of transmission, transmit them accordingly.
(2.) The copy so received by telegraph shall be filed in such other Registry, and shall be receivable in evidence for the purpose of the application to the same extent as the original documents would be admissible.
(3.) If the application is to be made upon notice to any person, the notice shall state that the documents will be transmitted by telegraph to such other Registry.
(4.) If any person to whom notice is given requires any other documents to be transmitted by telegraph to such other Registry, they shall be transmitted and shall be receivable in evidence in like manner.
(5.) Evidence of service of the notice may also be so transmitted.
Orders may be sent by telegraph.
Précis of evidence.
*See Act No. 13 of 1903, infra, p. 96.
Trial of Issues.
Trial without jury.
U.S. 689.
Power of court to-direct trial of issues.
Qd. S.C. Act, s. 61.
Issue and new trials.
Ib. s. 62.
Juries.
U.S. 800.
15.—(1.) The laws of each State relating to the qualification of jurors, the preparation of jury lists and jury panels, the summoning, attendance, and impanelling of juries, the number of jurors, the right of challenge, the discharge of juries, the disagreement of jurors, and the remuneration of jurors, for the purposes of the trial of civil matters pending in the Supreme Court of that State, or relating to any other matters concerning jurors after they have been summoned or sworn, shall extend and be applied to civil matters in which a trial is had with a jury in the High Court in that State, so that the lists of jurors shall be deemed to be made as well for the purposes of the High Court as of the Supreme Court of the State.
(2.) But the panel of jurors shall be made out and the jurors shall be summoned by officers of the Commonwealth.
(3.) Every officer of a State who has the custody of any jury list shall furnish a copy thereof to the proper officer of the Commonwealth on demand and on payment of a reasonable fee.
Evidence.
Rules of Court for proof of particular facts.
Cf. Jud. Act 1894, sec. 3.
Vic. No. 1696, sec. 3.
Production of books.
U.S. 722.
evidence pertinent to any issue in the suit. If a plaintiff fails to comply with the order the Court may dismiss the suit; and if a defendant fails to comply with the order the Court may give judgment against him as by default.
Oaths.
U.S. 725.
18.—(1.) The High Court may require and administer all necessary oaths.
(2.) The forms of oaths shall be the same, as nearly as may be, as those which are used in the Supreme Court of the State or part of the Commonwealth in which the oath is administered.
(3.) Any person who by the law of the State or part of the Commonwealth in which an oath is to be administered is entitled to make an affirmation instead of taking an oath may do so in any cause or matter in the High Court, and shall do so in the form prescribed by that law.
Orders and commissions for examination of witnesses.
Evidence by affidavit.
20.—(1.) On the hearing of any matter, not being the trial of a cause, evidence may be given by affidavit or orally as the Court or Justice directs.
(2.) At the trial of a cause, proof may be given by affidavit of the service of any document incidental to the proceedings in the cause, or of the signature of a party to the cause or his solicitor to any such document.
English rules of 1883.
O. 37 R. 1.
(3.) The High Court or a Justice may at any time for sufficient reason order that any particular facts in issue in a cause may be proved by affidavit at the trial, or that the affidavit of any person may be read at the trial of a cause, on such conditions in either case as are just. But such an order shall not be made if any party to the cause desires in good faith that the proposed witness shall attend at the trial for cross-examination.
Evidence at trial to be given orally in open court, except certain cases.
Commi
This is an opening excerpt, not the complete document.