The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

, is the highest

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

for civil matters and has

appellate jurisdiction A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

in the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Jurisdiction

The Court of Appeal operates pursuant to the . The Court hears

appeals In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

from a variety of courts and tribunals in New South Wales, in particular the Supreme Court, the

Industrial Court Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominat ...

, the Land and Environment Court, the District Court, the Dust Diseases Tribunal, the Workers Compensation Commission, and the Government and Related Employees Appeal Tribunal. The Court of Appeal must grant leave to appeal a judgment of an inferior court, before it hears the appeal proper. If a petitioner is not satisfied with the decision made by the Court of Appeal, application may be made to the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

for special leave to appeal the decision before the High Court. Because special leave is only granted by the High Court under certain conditions, the Court of Appeal is in effect a court of final appeal for many matters.

History

The Court of Appeal was established in 1965, replacing the former appellate Full Court of the New South Wales Supreme Court, and commenced operations on 1 January 1966 with the appointment of the President, Sir Gordon Wallace, and six Judges of Appeal,

Bernard Sugerman Sir Bernard Sugerman (5 July 1904 3 November 1976) was an Australian barrister, legal scholar, and judge. Early life and education Bernard Sugerman was born on 5 July 1904 at Rockdale, New South Wales to Solomon Ruben Sugerman and Florrie (n� ...

, Charles McLelland,

Cyril Walsh Sir Cyril Ambrose Walsh KBE (15 June 1909 – 29 November 1973) was an Australian judge who served on the High Court of Australia from 1969 until his death in 1973. Early life Walsh was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Michael a ...

Kenneth Jacobs Sir Kenneth Sydney Jacobs KBE QC (5 October 1917 – 24 May 2015) was an Australian judge who served as a Justice of the High Court of Australia. Jacobs was born in 1917 in Gordon, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales. He was educated at Kno ...

Kenneth Asprey Kenneth William Asprey (15 July 1905 – 28 October 1993) was a judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, the highest court in the State of New South Wales, Australia, which forms part of the Australian court hierarchy. He came to public p ...

and John Holmes Dashwood. The advent of the Court of Appeal was controversial, as it introduced another order and unexpectedly uprooted the established order of hierarchy and seniority among judges of the Supreme Court.

Current Composition

The Court of Appeal, , consists of the

Chief Justice of New South Wales The Chief Justice of New South Wales is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of New South Wales. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court ...

, the President of the Court of Appeal and the judges of appeal. Apart from the Chief Justice and the President of the Court, there are ten judges of appeal with current commissions. Traditionally two of them are heads of the Common Law Division and the Equity Division, and sit full-time in those Divisions as primary judges. The Chief Judge at Common Law is currently

Robert Beech-Jones Robert Beech-Jones is a Judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court since 2012, the Chief Judge at Common Law and a judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal since August 2021. Beech-Jones began practising law in Sydney in the 1980s. He was ca ...

, while the Chief Judge at Equity is currently David Hammerschlag. The chief judges will on occasion sit as appeal judges from time to time. The Governor can appoint Acting Judges of Appeal. They have all rights and powers as a Judge of Appeal. There is presently one acting judge of appeal,

Carolyn Simpson Carolyn Chalmers Simpson (born 30 March 1946) was a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales for 24 years and of its Court of Appeal for nearly three. Justice Simpson made legal history in 1999 as one of three women judges who formed the fi ...

. Each sit full-time in the Court of Appeal, although will hear primary cases in the Divisions as the need arises. Most judges in the Court of Appeal also sit on the Court of Criminal Appeal in varying degrees of frequency. The Chief Judge at Common Law and the Chief Judge in Equity also sit on the Court of Appeal (and the Court of Criminal Appeal) from time to time.

Presidents of the Court of Appeal

References

External links

Supreme Court website

(Caselaw NSW) * {{Authority control