Western Australian Consolidated Acts

SUPREME COURT ACT 1935 - SECT 57

57 .         Court of Appeal, constitution of

        (1)         The Court of Appeal shall be constituted by 2 or more judges of appeal.

        (2)         When hearing and determining an application or appeal under Part 3 of the Criminal Appeals Act 2004 the Court of Appeal shall be constituted —

            (a)         if the application or appeal relates solely to a sentence imposed for an offence, by 2 or more of the judges of appeal;

            (b)         otherwise, by an uneven number of the judges of appeal being not less than 3.

        (3)         If a judge of appeal’s judgment or decision is the subject of an appeal to the Court of Appeal, the court shall not be constituted so as to include the judge.

        (4)         When the Court of Appeal is constituted by 3 or more judges of appeal to hear and determine —

            (a)         an appeal that is not under Part 3 of the Criminal Appeals Act 2004 ; or

            (b)         an appeal that is under Part 3 of the Criminal Appeals Act 2004 and relates solely to a sentence imposed for an offence,

                and one or more of the judges for any reason becomes unable to continue as a member of the court for the purpose of hearing and determining the appeal, the remaining judges may continue to hear and determine the appeal if not less than 2 judges remain and all parties to the appeal consent.

        (5)         When the Court of Appeal is sitting, the presiding judge of appeal is —

            (a)         if the court is constituted so as to include the Chief Justice, the Chief Justice;

            (b)         if the court is constituted so as to not include the Chief Justice but to include the President, the President;

            (c)         if the court is constituted so as to not include either the Chief Justice or the President, the senior judge of appeal.

        (6)         For the purposes of delivering judgment in an appeal —

            (a)         despite subsections (1) to (4), the Court of Appeal may be constituted by any one or more judges of appeal, none of whom needs to have been a member of the court when it heard the appeal;

            (b)         the written judgment of any of the judges of appeal before whom the appeal was heard may be made public by any judge of appeal; and

            (c)         a judgment delivered in accordance with this subsection has the same effect as if each member of the Court of Appeal that heard the appeal had been present in court and delivered his judgment in person.

        [Section 57 inserted by No. 45 of 2004 s. 19; amended by No. 84 of 2004 s. 72.]