Supreme Court of Victoria

Supreme Court of Victoria
Arms of the Supreme Court of Victora
Established	1852
Jurisdiction	Victoria,  Australia
Location	Melbourne
Coordinates	37°48′51″S 144°57′29″E / 37.814132°S 144.957932°E / -37.814132; 144.957932Coordinates: 37°48′51″S 144°57′29″E / 37.814132°S 144.957932°E / -37.814132; 144.957932
Composition method	Appointed by Governor on the advice of the Executive Council.
Authorized by	Victorian Constitution
Decisions are appealed to	High Court of Australia
Judge term length	mandatory retirement by age of 70
Number of positions	37
Website	www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au
Chief Justice of Victoria
Currently	Marilyn Warren
Since	26 November 2003

The Supreme Court of Victoria is the superior court for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1852, and is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited jurisdiction within the state. Those courts lying below it include the County Court of Victoria, the Magistrates' Court of Victoria and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (which is technically not a court, but serves a judicial function). Above it lies the High Court of Australia. This places it around the middle of the Australian court hierarchy.

Jurisdiction of Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has two divisions - the Trial Division and the Court of Appeal.

The Trial Division sits with one judge, and usually acts as a court of original jurisdiction for serious criminal matters such as murder, attempted murder, corporate offences and certain conspiracy charges, and civil matters which are considered to involve greater complexity or amounts of money more than would be appropriate to have determined in the Magistrates' Court (whose civil jurisdictional limit is presently $100,000) or County Court (whose jurisdiction has since the beginning of 2007 been unlimited as to amount). The Trial Division also acts as an appeal court from the Magistrates' Court on questions of law, and appeals from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on points of law, except against an order of the President or Vice-President of the Tribunal. It also hears federal indictable offences such as treason.

The Court of Appeal hears appeals from the County Court and the Trial Division, as well as appeals on points of law from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal against the order of the President or Vice-President, and usually consists of a panel of three Judges of Appeal. In rare cases where it is sought to overrule or reconsider the correctness of a previous Court of Appeal decision, it can sit with five judges.

Locations

The Supreme Court of Victoria is located on the corner of Lonsdale and William Streets, Melbourne - the same intersection as the Melbourne Magistrates' Court and the County Court of Victoria.

The main buildings for the Supreme Court are located at the corner of William and Lonsdale Streets in Melbourne and in nearby buildings.^[1]

The Supreme Court also does circuits to Ballarat, Geelong, Warrnambool, Hamilton, Horsham, Bendigo, Mildura, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Wodonga, Sale and Morwell. In these locations the Court uses the facilities of the local Magistrates' Court.^[2]

Current Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria

As of 2009 (appointment date in brackets):

Chief Justice

• Marilyn Warren (26 November 2003)

President of the Court of Appeal

• Chris Maxwell (18 July 2005)

Judges of the Court of Appeal

• Peter Buchanan (28 October 1997)
• Geoffrey Nettle (8 June 2004)
• David Ashley (21 June 2005)
• Marcia Neave (22 February 2006)
• Robert Redlich (8 May 2006)
• Mark Weinberg (28 July 2008)
• Philip Mandie (17 August 2009)
• Bernard Bongiorno (17 August 2009)
• David Harper (4 November 2009)
• Hartley Hansen (19 July 2010)
• Pamela Tate (16 September 2010)

Judges of the Trial Division

• David Habersberger (3 July 2001)
• Robert Osborn (9 May 2002)
• Katherine Williams (25 October 2002)
• Stephen Kaye (16 December 2003)
• Simon Whelan (17 March 2004)
• Elizabeth Hollingworth (7 June 2004)
• Kevin Bell (10 February 2005)
• Kim Hargrave (18 March 2005)
• Betty King (21 June 2005)
• Anthony Cavanough (8 May 2006)
• Elizabeth Curtain (3 October 2006)
• Tony Pagone (16 May 2007; previously served from 3 October 2001 - 30 June 2002)
• Paul Coghlan (8 August 2007)
• Ross Robson (8 August 2007)
• Jack Forrest (8 August 2007)
• Lex Lasry (23 October 2007)
• James Judd (6 March 2008)
• Peter Vickery (6 May 2008)
• Emilios Kyrou (15 May 2008)
• David Beach (5 September 2008)
• Jennifer Davies (6 April 2009)
• Karin Emerton (16 October 2009)
• Terry Forrest (29 October 2009)
• Iain Ross (9 November 2009)
• Clyde Croft (9 November 2009)
• Anne Ferguson (3 May 2010)
• Michael Sifris (19 July 2010)
• Peter Almond (28 July 2010)
• John Dixon (16 September 2010)
• Cameron Macaulay (22 September 2010)

Notes

1. ^ "Supreme Court of Victoria - Redirect page". Supremecourt.vic.gov.au. http://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/CA256CC60028922C/page/About+the+Court?OpenDocument&1=10-About+the+Court~&2=~&3=~. Retrieved 2010-07-10. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ c=AU; st=Victoria; ou1=Department of Justice; ou2=SUPREME. "Supreme Court of Victoria - Regional Courts". Supremecourt.vic.gov.au. http://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/Supreme+Court/Home/About+the+Court/Locations/Regional+Courts/. Retrieved 2010-07-10. 

See also

• Judiciary of Australia
• List of Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria

External links

• Official Supreme Court of Victoria website
• Supreme Court Act (The Act which governs the Supreme Court) (pdf 459kb)