Practice and procedure - Subpoena - Third parties - Documents produced to prothonotary - Objection to inspection - Legal professional privilege - Waiver - Common interest privilege - Copies of privileged communications passed by plaintiff to financiers and business adviser - Characterisation of purpose of recommunication - Whether dominant purpose test applicable - Whether recommunication an implied waiver of privilege - Application of inconsistency test - Whether third parties shared common interest with plaintiff - Supreme Court Rules Ch I, r 42.10

Criminal law - Road traffic offences - Hit-run accident - Culpable driving causing death - Driving under influence of alcohol - Absence of proper control of motor vehicle - Evidence - Scientific matters and instruments - Preliminary breath test instrument - Test result - Admissibility - Whether necessary to establish causal connection between alcohol-affected driving and victim's death - Offender's failure to stop at scene of accident - Consciousness of guilt - Evidence of flight capable of being probative with respect to culpable driving charge - Circumstantial evidence - Lies - Directions as to consciousness of guilt - Failure to give Edwards direction - Miscarriage of justice - Not substantial - Application of statutory proviso - Sentencing - Sentence lenient but not attracting appellate intervention - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) ss 318, 568.

Criminal law - Procedure - Jury - Foreman mistakenly announcing not guilty verdict - Trial judge permitting correction of mistake before jury discharged.

Criminal law - Sentence - Director's appeal - Culpable driving causing death - Aggravating features of offences - Driver distracted by using mobile telephone - Overloaded vehicle - Some passengers not wearing seat belts - Sentence manifestly inadequate.

Criminal law - Sexual offences - Children - Evidence - Admissibility - Tape-recorded police interviews - VATE procedure - Two complainants - Trial - One complainant not asked to attest to truthfulness of VATE tapes - No objection taken at trial - Effect of non-compliance with statutory requirement for admissibility - No miscarriage of justice - Warning as to difficulties that delay causes for an accused person - Warning against propensity reasoning - Uncharged acts - Whether aggregation of errors or irregularities causing trial to miscarry - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 568(1) - Evidence Act 1958 (No 6246) s 37B.

Testator's maintenance - Application - Time - Extension - Widow - Whether estate finally distributed - Arguable claim - Delay - Explanation - Absence of relevant prejudice - Administration and Probate Act 1958 (No 6191) Pt IV ss 91, 99

Criminal law - Manslaughter - Evidence - Lies - Consciousness of guilt - Edwards direction.

Contract - Regulated loan contracts - Consumer credit - Truth in lending - Credit provider's statutory disclosure obligations - Investment seminars - Loans for payment of seminar enrolment fee - Seminar provider introducing borrower to credit provider - Arrangement between credit provider and seminar provider - Credit provider retaining portion of loan - Whether credit provider obliged to disclose retention to borrower - Amount of credit - "The persons ... to whom it is to be paid" - Consumer Credit (Victoria) Code s 15.

Criminal law - Procedure - Trial - Fair trial - Accused's counsel of choice unavailable for scheduled trial - Accused applying for adjournment of trial - Refusal of adjournment - Prosecution commenced in 2004 - Inapplicability of Charter of Human Rights - Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (No 43) Pt 2 ss 6 7 24 25 49(2)

Human rights - Criminal law - Trial - Fair trial - Adjournment refused - Inapplicability of Charter of Human Rights.

Trust and trustees - Trust property - Prohibition on sale to trustee - Exceptions - Court approval - Statutory jurisdiction to confer power on trustees - Criteria - Discretion - Intestate estate - Deceased survived by widow and infant children - Family home - Widow not exercising statutory election to purchase - Whether market should be tested - Interests of estate and infant beneficiaries not confined to financial interests - "Expedient" - Trustee Act 1958 (No 6401) ss 63, 63A - Administration and Probate Act 1958 (No 6191) ss 37A, 51, 52(f)

Equity - Assignments - Effect - Chose in action - Debt - Factoring agreement - Title of assignee to sue in own name - Whether prior notice to debtor necessary to perfect assignee's right to sue.

Restitution - Unjust enrichment - Whether benefit provided - Whether free acceptance of benefit.

Practice and procedure - Parties - Equitable assignment - Whether joinder of assignor necessary - Whether requirement of substance or practice.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Director's appeal - Multiple counts of theft - Rolled-up counts - Aggregate sentence - Whether aggregate sentence should be imposed in respect of rolled-up counts - Concurrency and cumulation in relation to aggregate sentences - Legislative purpose - Public scrutiny of sentencing - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) s 9(1)

Criminal law - Extradition - Interstate extradition order - Amenability to judicial review - Grounds - Neither Magistrates' Court nor Supreme Court empowered to refuse order on ground of abuse of process - Service and Execution of Process Act 1992 (Cth) ss 83, 86

Criminal law - Murder - Reckless murder - Accused's state of mind - Provocation - Evidence - Consciousness of guilt - Record of police interview - Multiple "no comment" answers - Inference from demeanour - Direction to jury - Defence of drug-induced psychosis - Admissibility of psychiatric evidence - Admissibility of mixed statements.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Offender's mental state - Impairment - Restatement of Tsiaras principles - Not applicable only to cases of serious psychiatric illness - Murder - Manslaughter - Aggravated burglary and burglary - Dishonesty offences.

Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Damages - Costs - Statutory scheme of compulsory pre-trial settlement offers - Costs consequences of refusing offer - Plaintiff's liability to bear own costs of trial - Costs liability reckoned according to amount of judgment for plaintiff - Ascertainment of amount - Reduction for statutory compensation payments made prior to trial - Time for effecting reduction - Whether relevant judgment equated to jury verdict or net amount after reduction - "If judgment is obtained ... in an amount" - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) s 134AB(12), 134AB(25), 134AB(28)

Administrative law - Ombudsman - Jurisdiction - Proposed investigation - Administrative action - Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Medical panels - Convenor - Complaint about convening of panels - Whether convening of panels administrative action - Ombudsman not permitted to investigate administrative action taken by judge or court - Convenor enjoying immunity from suit - "Administrative action" - "In respect of" - Ombudsman Act 1973 (No 8414) ss 13(1), 16(3) - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) s 65

Guardianship - Administration - Administrator - Rights and responsibilities - Appointment by Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal - Testator's maintenance claim on behalf of plaintiff with disability - Compromise - Court approval - Payment of capital sum - Whether administrator or Senior Master should manage fund - Guardianship and Administration Act 1986 (No 58) s 66(3) - Supreme Court Act 1986 (No 110) ss 113(1), 113B - Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 rr 15.08(1), 77.01, 79.06

Testator's maintenance - Adult daughter - Plaintiff with disability - Proceeding compromised by administrator - Court approval - Management of fund.

Practice and procedure - Masters - Jurisdiction and powers - Testator's maintenance claim - Plaintiff with disability - Compromise - Approval - Whether power of master limited to making consent order - General rule that settlement sum be paid to administrator or State Trustees - Departure - Whether warranted.

Guardianship and administration - Administrator - Rights and responsibilities - Appointment by Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal - Testator's maintenance claim on behalf of plaintiff with disability - Compromise - Court approval - Payment of capital sum - Whether administrator or Senior Master should manage fund - Guardianship and Administration Act 1986 (No 58) s 66(3) - Supreme Court Act 1986 (No 110) ss 113(1), 113B - Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 rr 15.08(1), 77.01, 79.06

Testator's maintenance - Adult daughter - Plaintiff with disability - Proceeding compromised by administrator - Court approval - Management of fund.

Practice and procedure - Masters - Jurisdiction and powers - Testator's maintenance claim - Plaintiff with disability - Compromise - Approval - Whether power of master limited to making consent order - General rule that settlement sum be paid to administrator or State Trustees - Departure - Whether warranted.

Costs - Compromise of proceeding subject to court approval - Plaintiff with disability - Agreement as to plaintiff's costs - Whether court should approve costs agreement - How plaintiff's costs should be determined - Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 rr 15.08(1), 77.01, 79.06

Criminal law - Sentencing - Sexual offences against children - Maintaining sexual relationship with child under age of 16 years - Female schoolteacher - Sexual acts with 15-year-old male pupil - Offender's mental state at time of offending.

Criminal law and procedure - Trial - Murder - Accused on bail - Accused absconding during trial - Waiver of right to give evidence - Discretion - Prejudice - Public interest - Criteria - Public perception - Prosecution case well advanced - Interest in completion of trial - Trial continued in absence of accused.

Human rights - Criminal law - Trial - Fair trial - Indictable offence - Paramount right of accused to be present at trial.

Criminal law and procedure - Trial - Fair trial - Unrepresented accused - Stalking - Accused's inept cross-examination of complainant - Inadmissible evidence adduced - Trial judge not informing accused of right to seek order for provision of legal aid - Whether lack of legal representation resulted in miscarriage of justice - New trial ordered - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 360A

Criminal law - Stalking - Nature of intent required - Jury need not be unanimous as to acts constituting course of conduct - "Course of conduct" - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 21A

Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Widow's claim for work-related death - Whether deceased person worker or independent contractor - Competing indicia - Deceased conducting bricklaying partnership - Partnership engaged to undertake work on construction site - Temporary halt to bricklaying work - Deceased separately engaged on hourly rate to dig trench - Contemporaneous contract for services and contract of service - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) ss 5(1), 8(1)

Criminal law - Companies - Liability - Child care centres - Proprietor's obligation to ensure adequate supervision of children - Nature of obligation - Child in care contriving to leave centre undetected by supervising staff - Liability not dependent on attribution of staff conduct to company - "Ensure" - Children's Services Act 1996 (No 53) s 27.

Criminal law - Offences against the person - Recklessly causing serious injury - Hotel fight - Defendant relying on self-defence - Proposed evidence that victim admitted throwing first punch - Magistrate ruling evidence inadmissible - Appeal on question of law - Whether error of law where evidence admissible on alternative basis - Scope of discretion to refuse relief - Magistrates' Court Act 1989 (No 51) s 92(1), 92(2).

Precedent - Decision of Full Court sitting in banc binding on single judge.

Statutes - Delegated legislation - Validity - Interpretation - Act conferring rights subject to regulations - Regulations promulgated in anticipation of amendment of statutory provision - Whether regulation repugnant to or inconsistent with Act - Whether permissible to use delegated legislation as aid to construction of statutory provision - "Subject to the regulations" - Police Regulation Act 1958 (No 6338) ss 8, 8AA, 8AB, 130 - Police Regulations 2003 reg 28

Police - Police force - Promotion or transfer - Appeal - Whether member who had not applied for subject promotion or transfer had right of appeal - Police Regulation Act 1958 (No 6338) ss 8, 8AA, 8AB, 130 - Police Regulations 2003 reg 28

Constitutional law - Powers of Commonwealth Parliament - External affairs power - Commonwealth anti-slavery legislation - Validity - International treaties - Implementation - 1926 International Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery - Commonwealth Constitution s 51(xxix)

Criminal law - Slavery - Commonwealth anti-slavery legislation - Scope - Elements of offences - Ownership - Notional ownership - Use a slave - Foreign nationals contracted to travel to Australia to engage in prostitution - Conduct of trial - Jury directions - Balance - Comprehensibility - Need to avoid over-subtle distinctions - "Possesses a slave" - Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth)

Statutes - Interpretation - Commonwealth legislation implementing international treaty - Treaty language - Extrinsic materials.

Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Lump sum compensation - Costs - Worker succeeding on weekly payments claim and failing on lump sum claim - Order that employer pay costs solely attributable to weekly payments claim - No order for costs of unsuccessful claim - "Otherwise" - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) ss 50(1), 50(2A), 98, 98A, 104.

Criminal law - Practice and procedure - Murder - Evidence - State listening devices warrant - Intercepted conversations between two persons inside dwelling - Communication of intercepted material over telecommunications system - Subpoena - Police surveillance methods - Accused seeking to ascertain if any interception of telephonic communications - No Commonwealth interception warrant - Whether legitimate forensic purpose - Public interest immunity - Test - Reasonable possibility information would materially assist defence - Use of listening device not interception of communication passing over telecommunications system - Listening Devices (Interception) Act 1969 (No 7804) s 4A - Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 (Cth) ss 5, 6, 7.

Criminal law - Motor vehicles - Drink-driving offences - Evidence - Admissibility - Public policy - Discretion to exclude - Illegal or improper conduct by police - Breath test analysis - Police intercepting driver of suspected stolen motor vehicle - Driver apprehended by use of excessive force - Lawful arrest - Driver detained at police station beyond time when he should have been released - Breath test evidence excluded - Absence of necessary connection between police conduct and obtaining excluded evidence - Discretion miscarried - Road Safety Act 1986 (No 127) ss 49(1)(b), 49(1)(f)

Practice and procedure - Vexatious litigant - Leave to commence proceeding - Application - Discretion - Test - Whether proceeding foredoomed to fail - Prisoner - Rights - Proposed claim against Commissioner of Corrections - Judicial review - Formulation of sentence plan - Access to education - Prison governor's powers to stop or censor letters being sent by prisoner - Prisoner proposing to send letters to victims of his crimes - Impending annual administrative review of prisoner's case - "Abuse of process" - Supreme Court Act 1986 (No 110) s 21(4) - Corrections Act 1986 (No 117) ss 20(1), 21(1), 47(1), 47D(1), 47D(2).

Administrative law - Judicial review - Planning and environment controls - Planning scheme - Responsible authority - Referral authority - Subdivision - Permit - Conditions - Validity - Test - Flood-prone land - Floodplain management - Referral authority requiring additional permit condition - Creation of drainage easement in favour of referral authority - Merits review application - Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal - Tribunal directing issue of permit omitting referral authority's condition - Tribunal failing to formulate and apply correct test of validity of condition - Tribunal failing to consider merits properly - Planning and Environment Act 1987 (No 45) ss 55, 56, 80(1), 84B, 85 - Water Act 1989 (No 80) s 136 - Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (No 53) ss 40, 42, 148

Negligence - Duty of care - Economic loss - Negligent misstatement - Disclaimer - Valuation of land - Land purchase contract providing for valuation to be sought by vendor at purchaser's request and cost - Valuation enabling calculation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) chargeable by vendor and payable by purchaser - Whether valuer owed duty to purchaser - Reliance - Valuer's knowledge of contract terms - Under-valuation - Purchaser obliged to pay higher GST - Breach of duty - Failure to pay proper regard to comparable sales data - Failure to apply comparable sales valuation - Damage - Causation - Inducement - Whether necessary to demonstrate reliance on truth of misstatement - Whether representee's contractual obligation to act consonantly with misstatement sufficient inducement - Assessment of damages - Appeal - Whether Court of Appeal authorised to undertake assessment - Question not raised in notice of appeal - Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (No 53) s 148(1)

Trust and trustees - Intention to create trust - Deed - Construction - Irrevocable declaration that property held on trust from future date - Whether deed effective as an immediate declaration - Use of recitals.

Practice and procedure - Summary judgment - Defence obviously untenable or unsustainable in fact or law - Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 r 23.01(2).

Practice and procedure - Parties - Necessary and proper parties - Plaintiffs claiming relief against trustee company - Directors of trustee company also beneficiaries of purported trust - Directors agreeing to be defendants to action - Costs orders made against directors - Directors not necessary parties - Directors precluded from claiming they were not proper parties to proceedings.

Administrative law - Judicial review - Jurisdictional error - Witness protection scheme - Chief Commissioner of Police - Termination of protection - Confirmation on internal review - External review - Appeal to Director, Police Integrity - Legislation not specifying nature of appeal - Recognised categories of appeal - 72-hour time limit for determination of appeal - Chief Commissioner's specialist expertise not indicative of nature of appeal - Director erroneously defining appeal - Hearing de novo required - Witness Protection Act 1991 (No 15) ss 16(2), 17(3), 17(5), 17(6), 18(1), 18(2)

Administrative law - Judicial review - Privative clause - Principle of construction - Whether judicial review precluded - "Action or proceeding ... against any person" - Witness Protection Act 1991 (No 15) 12(3).

Practice and procedure - Appeal - Leave to appeal - Judicial review - Refusal of certiorari - Whether final.

Criminal law - Homicide offences - Reform - Murder - Self-defence - New statutory offence of defensive homicide - Reform codifying law of self-defence applicable to homicide offences - Attempted murder - Alternative verdict of attempted defensive homicide - Crimes (Homicide) Act 2005 (No 77) - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) ss 9AB, 9AC, 9AD, 321M, 321N

Criminal law - Alternative verdicts - Unlawful imprisonment - Assault with intent to rape - Assault - Trial judge removing alternative assault count from jury - Trial judge's explanation to jury - Accused losing reasonable opportunity of acquittal on count of assault with intent to rape - Substantial miscarriage of justice - New trial ordered - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 568(1)

Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Serious injury - Permanent impairment - Assessment - American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (4th ed) - Interpretation - Internal inconsistency - Falso demonstratio non nocet cum de corpore constat - Spinal injury - Beneficial effect of surgery to be disregarded - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) ss 67, 91, 98C, 104B(9).

Criminal law - Customs and excise - Possession of excisable goods on which duty not paid - Possession - Not necessary for Crown to prove exclusive possession - Excise Act 1901 (Cth) s 117(1)

Criminal law - Sentencing - Appeal - Fresh evidence - Admissibility - Criteria - Facts existing at time of sentencing - Forfeiture offence - Application for exclusion order after plea - Application settled after sentencing - Re-opening sentencing discretion - Whether fresh evidence showed true significance of facts - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) s 5 - Confiscation Act 1997 (No 108) ss 15(1)(b), 18, 20, 22

Criminal law - Homicide offences - Reform - Murder - Self-defence - Excessive self-defence - New statutory offence of defensive homicide - Reform codifying law of self-defence applicable to homicide offences - Attempted murder - Alternative verdict of attempted defensive homicide - Crimes (Homicide) Act 2005 (No 77) - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) ss 9AB, 9AC, 9AD, 321M.