Supreme Court of Western Australia

The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of AU$500,000 or more), and hears the most serious criminal matters.

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 and civil cases where the amount claimed is greater than $500,000.

The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Wayne Martin who was formally appointed to the position on 4 April 2006. Martin was appointed after a lengthy selection process which followed the retirement of David Malcolm on 7 February. Martin had been one of Western Australia's leading QC's before his appointment.

History of the Court

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

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.

Judges

The Bench of the Supreme Court is currently constituted as follows (in order of seniority):

Chief Justice

* Wayne Martin (1 May 2006)

President of the Court of Appeal

* Christopher Steytler (1 February 2005)

Judges of the Court of Appeal

* Neville Owen (1 February 2005)
* Christine Wheeler (1 February 2005)
* Carmel McLure (1 February 2005)
* Christopher Pullin (1 February 2005)
* Michael Buss (1 February 2006)
* Geoffrey Miller (7 June 2007)

Judges of the General Division

* Michael Murray (February 1990)
* Anthony Templeman (October 1996)
* John McKechnie (4 March 1999)
* Nicholas Hasluck (1 May 2000)
* Eric Heenan (April 2002)
* Michael Barker (August 2002) (seconded as President of the State Administrative Tribunal)
* Narelle Johnson (31 July 2003)
* Rene Le Miere (2 February 2004)
* Lindy Jenkins (2 February 2004)
* Ralph Simmonds (23 February 2004)
* Peter Blaxell (1 February 2005)
* Andrew Beech (25 June 2007)
* David Newnes (25 June 2007)

Masters:
* Craig Sanderson

References

*cite web | title=History of the Supreme Court | work=Supreme Court of Western Australia | url=http://www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au/ | accessdate=2007-11-23

Further reading

* State Archives of Western Australia. (1990) "Bankruptcy records of the Supreme Court of Western Australia" compiled by the State Archives of Western Australia.(Alphabetical list of bankruptcy files held by the State Archives. Covers the period 1857–1928).

ee also

* Chief Justice of Western Australia
* Judiciary of Australia