Other cases which come to the High Court for final determination involve appeals against the decisions of the Supreme Courts of the States and Territories, of the Federal Court of Australia and of the Family Court of Australia and these are dealt with by a full court of not less than two Justices. In addition there are certain matters which can be heard and determined by a single Justice.
The subject matter of the cases heard by the Court traverses the whole range of Australian law. It includes, for instance, arbitration, contract, company law, copyright, courts-martial, criminal law and procedure, tax law, insurance, personal injury, property law, family law, trade practices, etc.
Most of the Court's work relates to the hearing of appeals against decisions of other courts. There is no automatic right to hhis picture was taken in Courtroom No.1 of the High Court Building during the hearing of the matter of The Wik Peoples v. The State of Queensland and others on Tuesday, 11 June 1996. It s noteworthy in that it involved the most number of counsel (35) ever to appear before the High Court in a case.
The Court rarely gives its decision (ie. the judgment) at the end of a hearing. Rather, the decision is "reserved" and presented some time after the hearing. Each Justice makes his/her own decision on cases, and where decisions are not unanimous, the decision of the majority prevails.
The usual practice is for Justices to prepare written reasons for their decisions which are handed down by the Court at a later sitting. Printed copies of the judgments are given to the parties involved immediately after the decision is announced by the Court. The decisions are subsequently recorded in law reports and are now also available on computerised legal data bases.
Paper copies of judgments are available to the public, for a fee, by contacting one of the offices of the High Court Registry in either Canberra, Sydney or Melbourne.
