Supreme Court Act 1887
4Qualification for appointment
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4 Qualification for appointment
[Section 4 Subsection (1) amended by No. 66 of 2007, Sched. 1, Applied:31 Dec 2008] [Section 4 Subsection (1) amended by 26 Geo. V No. 16, s. 7 ][Section 4 Subsection (1) amended by No. 68 of 1994, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ][Section 4 Subsection (2) added by 26 Geo. V No. 16, s. 7 ][Section 4 Substituted by No. 9 of 2016, s. 8, Applied:10 Jun 2016]
(1) A person is eligible for appointment to the office of judge of the Supreme Court if the person –
(a) is an Australian lawyer of no less than 10 years' standing who has attained the age of 35 years; or
(b) is, or has been, a judge of –
(i) the Federal Court of Australia; or
(ii) the Family Court of Australia; or
(iii) the Supreme Court of another State or a Territory; or
(iv) the High Court of New Zealand; or
(v) the Supreme Court of New Zealand; or
(c) is, or has been, appointed as a magistrate under the Magistrates Court Act 1987 .
(2) An appointment of a person as a judge under this Act, as in force before the commencement of the Supreme Court Amendment (Judges) Act 2016 , is not invalid by reason only that the person did not hold the qualifications, or had not attained the age, required under this Act as in force at the time of the appointment.
(3) An appointment of a person as a judge, as referred to in subsection (2) , is deemed for the purposes of any Act –
(a) to have been validly made on the relevant day; and
(b) to have always been validly made on the relevant day; and
(c) to have been validly made before the person served as, or performed or exercised a function, duty or power of, a judge under any Act –