The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state

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 ...

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 ...

State State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It has unlimited

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

within the state in

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750,000 or more), and hears the most serious

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

matters.

Structure

The Supreme Court consists of a General Division (equivalent to the Trial Division in other states) and the Court of Appeal. The General Division deals with serious criminal matters, civil cases where the amount claimed is greater than $750,000, criminal appeals from the

Magistrates Court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cou ...

and appeals from other bodies such as the State Administrative Tribunal. The General Division sits in the David Malcolm Justice Centre for civil proceedings and the District Court of WA Building and the original Supreme Court Building for criminal proceedings. The Court of Appeal hears both civil and criminal appeals from cases in the General Division, the District Court and the State Administrative Tribunal. It sits in the original Supreme Court Building. When required, Supreme Court judges may also constitute the Industrial Appeal Court and sit as a

Court of Disputed Returns The Court of Disputed Returns is a court, tribunal, or some other body that determines disputes about elections in some common law countries. The court may be known by another name such as the Court of Disputed Elections. In countries that derive ...

. The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is

Peter Quinlan Peter Damien Quinlan is the Chief Justice of Western Australia. His appointment was announced on 1 August 2018, and took effect on 13 August. He was the Solicitor-General of Western Australia from 2016 to 2018. Quinlan attended John XXIII Col ...

SC who was appointed to the position in August 2018.

History

The Supreme Court was established on 18 June 1861 when the Court of Quarter Sessions (a criminal court for serious matters) and the Civil Court were amalgamated. Sir

Archibald Burt Sir Archibald Paull Burt QC (1 September 1810 – 21 November 1879) was a British lawyer, politician and judge. He grew up on the island of Saint Christopher in the West Indies, where both he and his father owned slaves. He studied law in Engla ...

was the first Chief Justice of the court. The Full Court of the Supreme Court was established in 1886 to decide both criminal and civil appeals. In 1893 the criminal appeals were transferred to the Court of Appeal which was then reconstituted as the Court of Criminal Appeal in 1911. The Supreme Court, Full Court and Court of Criminal Appeal were effectively the one court with each judge able to sit on cases in any of the courts. Plans to relocate the Court building were announced to the public in March 1901, after a parliamentary committee examined various options and decided on the current location on St George’s Terrace. A government decree that only local materials be used in the construction caused difficulties and delays, culminating in a Royal Commission in 1902. Finally, the new building was officially opened on 8 June 1903, by newly-arrived Governor, Sir Frederick Bedford. In 2004 the Full Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal were subsumed by the Court of Appeal, which, while still a division of the Supreme Court, has judges which sit solely on appeal cases.

Judicial officers

The Supreme Court is currently constituted by the following judicial officers (in order of seniority):

Chief Justice

(13 August 2018)

President of the Court of Appeal

Michael Buss Michael John Buss (born 4 June 1955) is the President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. He was appointed to that position on 18 July 2016, having previously been a Judge of the Supreme Court. Education Buss was ...

(18 July 2016; appointed as Judge of Appeal on 1 February 2006)

Judges of the Court of Appeal

Graeme Murphy Graeme Lloyd Murphy AO (born 2 November 1950) is an Australian choreographer. With his fellow dancer (and wife since 2004) Janet Vernon, he guided Sydney Dance Company to become one of Australia's most successful and best-known dance compani ...

(3 August 2010; appointed as Judge on 28 April 2009) *

Robert Mazza Robert Mazza is a judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and former judge of the District Court of Western Australia. Before his appointment he founded his own law firm. He is a graduate of the University of Weste ...

(2011; appointed as Judge on 4 March 2010) * Robert Mitchell (18 July 2016; appointed as Judge in October 2014) * Andrew Beech (24 May 2017; appointed as Judge on 25 June 2007) *

Janine Pritchard Janine Pritchard is a justice with the Supreme Court of Western Australia. She is an alumnus of both Australian National University and the University of London. Controversy In 2013, Justice Pritchard dismissed a West Australian Stolen Generati ...

(President, State Administrative Tribunal as of 4 June 2019; appointed as Judge of Appeal on 13 September 2018; appointed as Judge on 11 June 2010) * John Vaughan (4 June 2019; appointed as Judge on 30 April 2018)

Judges of the General Division

* Rene Le Miere (Senior Puisne Judge) (2 February 2004) * Kenneth Martin (23 March 2009) * Stephen Hall (6 July 2009) * Michael Corboy (19 April 2010) * Jeremy Allanson (9 August 2010) * Jeremy Curthoys (10 February 2014) *

Paul Tottle Paul Tottle (born January 1958) is a justice on the Supreme Court of Western Australia as of August 2015. Prior to this, Tottle founded the commercial law firTottle Partnersin 1995. References 1958 births Living people Australian jurists ...

(10 August 2015) * Bruno Fiannaca (31 August 2015) * Joseph McGrath (28 November 2016) *

Gail Archer Hon. Justice Gail Ann Archer is a judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Archer's father died when she was 17. She graduated in jurisprudence and law from the University of Western Australia in 1988, and commenced her legal career ...

(29 May 2017) * Anthony Derrick (6 March 2018) * Jennifer Smith (27 June 2018; acting judge from 1 August 2017) * Jenni Hill (4 June 2019) *

Larissa Strk Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly modern regions of Greece, region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capit ...

(9 June 2021) *

Marcus Solomon Marcus Solomon is an Australian jurist and rabbi who currently serves as a justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. He is the first Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi to serve as a Supreme Court justice in Australia. Biography Solomon ...

(4 August 2021)

Master

* Craig Sanderson

Principal Registrar

* Kate McDonald (Acting)

Registrars

* Christopher Boyle * Sandra Boyle * Danielle Davies * Simon Dixon * June Eaton (Registrar Court of Appeal) * Rainer Gilich * Janet Whitbread

Supreme Court building

The Supreme Court building has considerable heritage significance in Western Australia. In 1899, a joint parliamentary committee was formed to decide on the location of the new court building with three sites being considered. The locations were a site in Irwin Street, the old Government Boys' School on St George's Terrace and the current site. After a decision was made and a contract awarded for £55,888 11s 3p to RP Vincent and Sons in February 1901, an announcement was made to the public during March of that year. The foundation stone was laid on 2 June 1902 and would open on 8 June 1903 with WA Governor Sir

Frederick Bedford Admiral Sir Frederick George Denham Bedford, (24 December 1838 – 30 January 1913) was a senior Royal Navy officer and Governor of Western Australia from 24 March 1903 to 22 April 1909. Naval career Bedford was born on 24 December 1838, and ...

present as was the Chief Justice Sir Edward Stone and the full court. The two-storey brick building was designed by John Harry Grainger (father of

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

), Chief Architect with the Public Works Department of Western Australia. It is designed in the Federation Academic Classical style: a style that was often used for major public buildings of the time. The original design called for only local materials to be used with

Donnybrook stone Donnybrook stone is a fine to medium-grained Feldspar, feldspathic and Kaolinite, kaolinitic sandstone found near the town of Donnybrook, Western Australia. It originates from the early Cretaceous (144-132 mya (unit), MYA) and features shale Cl ...

, Meckering granite and

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

wood the choice. Stuccoed cement had to be substituted when insufficient quantities of Donnybrook stone of identical texture and colour were lacking for the building. Another change was the slate roof, when a galvanized roof was installed instead saving £5,425. Originally, the grand foyer was to be painted in colours reflecting those of the glass domes, but again shortage of funds dictated the substitution of whitewash. The foyer was more appropriately redecorated to celebrate the Court’s centenary in 2003. File:Supreme Court, south front.jpg, Supreme Court, south front File:Main Foyer, Supreme Court of Western Australia.jpg, Main Foyer File:No 1 Court.jpg, No 1 Court

David Malcolm Justice Centre

On 11 July 2016, the Supreme Court's ''Registry and General Division (Civil)'' relocated from the original Supreme Court Building to the new David Malcolm Justice Centre located at 28

Barrack Street Barrack Street is one of two major cross-streets in the Perth central business district, central business district of Perth, Western Australia. Together with St Georges Terrace, Wellington Street, Perth, Wellington Street and William Street, Pe ...

which is immediately north of the State Buildings complex. File:28_Barrack_Street_entrance.jpg , Entrance to building File:Perth town hall proximity to 28 Barrack Street.jpg , With Perth Town hall to the north File:28_Barrack_Street_in_position_behind_State_buildings.jpg , With State buildings to the south

Notes

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Supreme Court Of Western Australia

Courthouses in Perth, Western Australia 1861 establishments in Australia Courts and tribunals established in 1861