New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal

New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal
New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal
Jurisdiction	New South Wales
Location	Six locations in Sydney CBD
Composition method	Vice-regal appointment upon Premier's nomination, following advice of the Attorney General and Cabinet
Authorised by	Parliament of New South Wales via the: Constitution Act 1902 (NSW); Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW); Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW);
Appeals to	High Court of Australia
Appeals from	Supreme Court of NSW; District Court of NSW; Industrial Court of NSW; Land & Environment Court of NSW; Drug Court of NSW;
Judge term length	mandatory retirement by age of 72
Website	supremecourt.justice.nsw.gov.au
Chief Justice of New South Wales
Currently	Justice Andrew Bell
Since	7 March 2022
President of the Court of Appeal
Currently	Justice Julie Ward
Since	7 March 2022

The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for criminal matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian State of New South Wales.^[1]

Jurisdiction

The Court hears appeals from people who were convicted or pleaded guilty and were sentenced by a Supreme or District court judge. The Court also hears appeals lodged by the Crown regarding the adequacy of a sentence. Decisions made by the Land and Environment Court, the Industrial Court or the Drug Court in criminal jurisdiction may also be brought for appeal. The Court of Criminal Appeal may also grant leave to appeal in matters involving questions of fact or mixed questions of fact and law. It may also grant leave to appeal in cases where the severity or adequacy of the sentence is challenged.^[1]

If a petitioner is not satisfied with the decision made by the Court of Criminal Appeal, application may be made to the High Court of Australia for special leave to appeal the decision before the High Court.

Composition

Three judges usually form the panel for appeals, although five judges can be used for significant legal issues. The Chief Justice has ultimate discretion in determining the number of judges to sit on the Bench, and the selection of individual judges for each case. A unanimous decision is not needed as the majority view will prevail. The presiding judge is usually one of the Chief Justice, the President of the Court of Appeal, a Judge of Appeal or the Chief Judge at Common Law. Typically each bench comprises at least two judges of the Common Law Division.^[2]^: 6 Single judges hear sentence appeals from the Drug Court.^[2]^: 15

The Judges who may typically be the presiding judge are listed below:

Name	Title	Term began	Time in office	Notes
Andrew Bell	Chief Justice	7 March 2022	2 years, 234 days	^[3]
Julie Ward	President, Court of Appeal	7 March 2022	2 years, 234 days	^[4]
Anthony Meagher	Judge of Appeal	10 August 2011	13 years, 78 days	^[5]
Fabian Gleeson		29 April 2013	11 years, 181 days
Mark Leeming		3 June 2013	11 years, 146 days
Anthony Payne		30 March 2016	8 years, 211 days
Richard White		15 March 2017	7 years, 226 days
Anna Mitchelmore		28 March 2022	2 years, 213 days
Jeremy Kirk		21 April 2022	2 years, 189 days
Christine Adamson		7 December 2022	1 year, 325 days
Kristina Stern		8 June 2023	1 year, 141 days
Ian Harrison	Chief Judge at Common Law	9 November 2023	353 days	^[6]
David Hammerschlag	Chief Judge in Equity	17 March 2022	2 years, 224 days	^[7]
John Griffiths	Acting Judge of Appeal	10 April 2022	2 years, 200 days
John Basten	Acting Judge of Appeal	17 April 2022	2 years, 193 days

Caseload

In 2018, the Court heard 407 new cases, which included 265 appeals against severity of sentence, 108 appeals against conviction, 19 appeals against interlocutory judgments and 1 case returned from the High Court for re-hearing. Appeals against convictions were approximately 27 per cent in 2018 and, in recent years have showed a trend towards increasing complexity, impacting on Court time and resources.^[2]^: 25

References

^ ^a ^b "Court of Criminal Appeal". Supreme Court of New South Wales. Government of New South Wales. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c "2018 Annual Review" (PDF). Supreme Court of New South Wales. Government of New South Wales. 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
^ "New Chief Justice of NSW". NSW Department of Communities and Justice. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
^ "New President of the Court of Appeal". NSW Department of Communities and Justice. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
^ "Judicial officer contact details". Supreme Court of New South Wales. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
^ "New Chief Judge at Common Law appointed to NSW Supreme Court". 9 November 2023. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021.
^ Speakman, M Attorney-General (16 March 2022). "New appointmenbts to strengthen Supreme Court" (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2022.

External links

Court of Criminal Appeal Judgements

[ncswcca-1] "Court of Criminal Appeal". Supreme Court of New South Wales. Government of New South Wales. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2016.

[ar2018-2] "2018 Annual Review" (PDF). Supreme Court of New South Wales. Government of New South Wales. 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2020.

[New_South_Wales_Court_of_Appeal_Bell_CJ-3] "New Chief Justice of NSW". NSW Department of Communities and Justice. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

[New_South_Wales_Court_of_Appeal_Ward_President-4] "New President of the Court of Appeal". NSW Department of Communities and Justice. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

[New_South_Wales_Court_of_Appeal_nswccontacts-5] "Judicial officer contact details". Supreme Court of New South Wales. Retrieved 8 March 2022.

[New_South_Wales_Court_of_Appeal_Beech_Jones_CJ_at_CL-6] "New Chief Judge at Common Law appointed to NSW Supreme Court". 9 November 2023. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021.

[New_South_Wales_Court_of_Appeal_Mitchelmore_&_Hammerschlag-7] Speakman, M Attorney-General (16 March 2022). "New appointmenbts to strengthen Supreme Court" (PDF). Retrieved 21 March 2022.

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