SUPREME COURT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA Supreme Court Bench Book A Reference to Decided Cases on Procedural Issues and Miscellaneous Matters in the Supreme Court Text of decided cases set out under headings of types of application or proceeding And the Supreme Court Rules 1984 — 2010 with case law annotations; including cases on Contempt, Slip Rule applications and Statutory interpretation. i Foreword by the Chief Justice A large part of the work of the Supreme Court is dealing with procedural applications. Therefore this reference book starts with bringing together the essential statutory and case law citations for the various types of procedural applications, setting out the text of the legislation and appropriate quotations from the cases. In an appropriate case the Court will be able to deliver an extempore judgement quoting from the text of the Bench Book. For cross referencing ease at that back of the Bench Book the Supreme Court Act and the Supreme Court Rules are set out with short form commentary from the decided cases. Unfortunately the court cannot always rely on Counsel to refer the court to the appropriate legislation and case citations. This work is aimed at saving judicial time in research, particularly in the types of application which come before the court on a regular basis. As the number of judges in the National Court has grown, and consequently the number of judges sitting in the Supreme Court jurisdiction has also grown, some issues concerning a consistent and unified application of the law have arisen, on occasion requiring the Constitution of a five judge bench to resolve a conflict of decisions. So while the court remains constituted as it is, and not separated from the National Court, the occasions of conflict between decisions cannot be completely eliminated. However, hopefully at least in the procedural aspects this work will greatly reduce those occasions. Sir Salamo Injia, KT Chief Justice October, 2011 i SUPREME COURT BENCH BOOK Published under the direction of The Honourable Chief Justice Salamo Injia,Kt. by The Judges Publication Committee Chairman, The Honourable Justice Nicholas Kirriwom Members The Honourable Justice Catherine Davani The Honourable Justice David Cannings The Honourable Justice Derek Hartshorn Compiled by The Honourable Gregory Lay Retired Judge of the National and Supreme Courts Papua New Guinea SUPREME COURT BENCH BOOK Table of Contents SUPREME COURT BENCH BOOK ................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ iii 1. Chapter 1 - OVERVIEW OF THE JURISDICTION OF THE SUPREME COURT ................................. 1 1.1 Appellate Jurisdiction, Original Constitutional Jurisdiction and Review Jurisdiction ................ 1 1.2 Whether Powers Given in Appellate, Original Jurisdiction or Review Jurisdiction ................... 1 1.3 Appellate Jurisdiction......................................................................................................... 1 1.4 Original Jurisdiction ........................................................................................................... 2 1.5 Review Jurisdiction ............................................................................................................ 2 1.6 Section 155 (4) of the Constitution ..................................................................................... 2 2. Chapter 2 – OVERVIEW OF THE JURISDICTION OF A SINGLE JUDGE OF THE SUPREME COURT .. 2 2.1 Jurisdiction of a Single Judge in the Appellate Jurisdiction under the Supreme Court Act ....... 2 2.2 Jurisdiction of a Single Judge in the Original Jurisdiction of the Court .................................... 3 2.3 Jurisdiction of a Single Judge in the Review Jurisdiction of the Court..................................... 4 3.0 Chapter 3 – INTERLOCUTORY APPLICATIONS ......................................................................... 5 3.1 Application for an Injunction - ............................................................................................ 5 3.2 Appellate Jurisdiction¶ ...................................................................................................... 5 3.3 Original Jurisdiction ........................................................................................................... 5 3.4 Review Jurisdiction ............................................................................................................ 6 3.5 Application for a Stay ........................................................................................................ 8 3.6 Applications for Directions ............................................................................................ 10 3.7 Original Jurisdiction ....................................................................................................... 11 3.8 Review Jurisdiction ........................................................................................................ 11 3.9 Application for Extension of Time to File a Notice of Leave to Appeal or Notice of Appeal As Originating Document ............................................................................................................ 13 3.10 Application for Leave to Appeal - Civil ............................................................................. 14 3.11 Order 10 Applications for Leave to Appeal from Judicial Review of the National Court ...... 24 iv 3.13 Application to Extend Time to File a Notice of Appeal after Grant of Leave to Appeal ....... 27 3.14 Application for Leave to Review National Court Election Petition Hearing ........................ 29 3.15 Application for Security ................................................................................................... 32 4.0 Chapter 4 – Application for Bail ............................................................................................ 35 4.1 Legislative Provisions ....................................................................................................... 35 4.2 Considerations in wilful murder cases ............................................................................... 36 4.3 Bail after Lodging an Appeal ............................................................................................. 37 4.4 Bail during the Hearing of an Appeal ................................................................................ 37 4.5 Other Considerations on a Bail Application ....................................................................... 37 4.6 Application for Bail to the Supreme Court Pursuant to Section 13 of the Bail Act – ............. 37 5.0 chapter 5 – APPEAL JURISDICTION ........................................................................................ 40 5.1 NOTICE OF APPEAL — REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................. 40 5.2 APPLICATION TO ADMIT FRESH EVIDENCE ON APPEAL ....................................................... 44 5.3 Application to Amend Notice of Appeal .............................................................................. 50 5.4 OBJECTION TO COMPETENCY .......................................................................................... 53 5.5 Application to Dismiss for Want of Prosecution ............................................................... 57 5.6 Slip rule Applications ...................................................................................................... 65 5.7 Contempt Proceedings ...................................................................................................... 67 5.8 Statutory Interpretation .................................................................................................. 80 6.0 ORIGINAL JURISDICTION ...................................................................................................... 84 6.1 Direction by the Court for a Single Judge to Find Facts ....................................................... 84 ____________________ ......................................................................................................... 84 6.2 Constitution Section 18 Referrals to Interpret the Constitution .......................................... 85 6.3 CONSTITUTION SECTION 19 REFERENCES .......................................................................... 87 7. Chapter 7 – REVIEW JURISDICTION ...................................................................................... 89 7.1 Generally ........................................................................................................................ 89 7.2 Election Petitions ............................................................................................................. 92 8.1 The Supreme Court Act With Commentary .......................................................................... 96 Supreme Court Act 1975, ........................................................................................................... 98 PART I. – PRELIMINARY. .......................................................................................................... 98 1. INTERPRETATION. ............................................................................................................ 98 PART II. – THE SUPREME COURT. ............................................................................................. 98 2. JUDGE