O'Keefe v Country Roads Board [1931] HCA 4; (1931) 45 CLR 27 (24 March 1931)

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

O'Keefe Complainant, Applicant; and The Country Roads Board Defendant. Respondent.

H C of A

On removal from the Supreme Court of Victoria.

24 March 1931

Gavan Duffy C.J., Rich, Starke, Dixon, Evatt and McTiernan JJ.

Lazarus, for the applicant.

De Baun, for the respondent,

The Court delivered the following judgment:—

Gavan Duffy C.J.,

Rich, Starke, Dixon, Evatt and McTiernan JJ.

We are satisfied that this cause does not involve any question as to the limits inter se of the constitutional powers of the Commonwealth and a State. It therefore is not before us automatically pursuant to sec. 40A of the Judiciary Act.

If the cause involved a question under sec. 109 of the Constitution, as it may do, we should have power to remove it under sec. 40 of the Judiciary Act. We think we ought not to exercise that power, because the facts which would raise any such question have not been distinctly proved, and are not admitted. Scant evidence was given as to the employment, and none as to the character of the works upon which the complainant was employed, and their relation to the funds and general powers of the Country Roads Board. The result is that the Supreme Court will deal with the order nisi in the ordinary course.

Order nisi remitted to the Supreme Court.

Solicitor for the applicant, Mark Lazarus.

Solicitor for the respondent, F. G. Menzies, Crown Solicitor for the State of Victoria, by J. V. Tillett, Crown Solicitor for the State of New South Wales.