Legal practitioners - Solicitors - Entitlement to engage in legal practice - Unqualified person - Sale of land - Vendor's statutory disclosure obligations - Conveyancer preparing disclosure statements - Interlocutory injunction granted - Claim for permanent injunction dismissed - Evidence of likely future conduct - Discretion - Whether proceeding lapsed after repeal of legislation - "Engaging in legal practice" - Sale of Land Act 1962 (No 6975) s 32 - Legal Practice Act 1996 (No 35) ss 314, 316 - Legal Profession Act 2004 (No 99) s 7.2.13, Sch 2 cl 2.3 - Conveyancers Act 2006 (No 75) s 4(2)(b).

Statutes - Interpretation - Repeal and replacement of legislation - Savings provisions - Legal proceeding issued under repealed legislation - Whether proceeding lapsed - Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (No 10096) s 14(2).

Administrative law - Judicial review - Tribunals - Occupational regulation - Medical practitioner - Professional conduct - Investigation - Medical Practitioners Board - Board power to inform itself in any way thought fit - Witness examined about qualifications of overseas expert - Board making independent on-line Google search - Whether ultra vires - Whether investigation process inquisitorial or adversarial - "May inform itself in any way it thinks fit" - "Not bound by the rules of evidence" - Medical Practice Act 1994 (No 23) s 52

Administrative law - Judicial review - Procedural fairness - Ostensible bias - Notional fair-minded observer - Imputed knowledge of decision-making context.

Practice and procedure - Costs - Appeal dismissed - Whether departure from usual costs order - Whether successful argument raised before judge at first instance - Whether appeal initiated in public interest - Appellant ordered to pay respondent's costs of appeal.

Contract - Construction - Release - Purpose and object - General words - Limitation - Relevant considerations - Surrounding circumstances - Intention of releasor - Potential claim not specifically released - Three pending actions - Mediation - Two actions compromised - Releasee not complaining about prospect of being joined in third action - Releasee insisting on limiting amendment to release - Releasee later joined as defendant in third action - Release inapplicable to claim in third action.

Practice and procedure - Abuse of process - Anshun estoppel - Whether unreasonable not to initiate claim in earlier proceeding.

Landlord and tenant - Lease - Construction - Lessor - Remedies - Re-entry - Non-payment of rent - Lease provision that failure to pay rent a fundamental breach - Notice of breach - Whether right to re-enter qualified by requirement to serve notice - Property Law Act 1958 (No 6344) s 146 - Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005 r 47.04

Damages - Concurrent wrongdoers - Proportionate liability - Apportionable claim - Contribution - Entitlement - Defendant against whom judgment given under statutory proportionate liability regime - Building case - Economic loss - Proprietor's claim against contractor and architect - Architect's third party claim against engineer and surveyors - Architect compromising entirety of plaintiff's claim - Architect amending third party claim to proceed solely on proportionate liability claim - Concurrent wrongdoer settling apportionable claim not precluded from claiming contribution - "Apportionable claim" - Wrongs Act 1958 (No 6420) Pt IV Pt IVAA ss 24AE 24AF 24AI 24AJ 24AO

Criminal law - Mens rea - Statutory offence - Knowledge that trade mark falsely applied to goods - Prosecution not required to prove knowledge that false application itself unlawful - Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) s 148

Evidence - Standard of proof - Burden of proof - Civil proceeding - Damages - Sexual assault - Claim by patient against psychiatrist - Gravity of allegations - Strength of evidence - Clear and cogent proof required - Defendant's denials - Credibility of parties - Whether open to trial judge to find plaintiff had discharged burden.

Evidence - Admissibility - Recent invention - Prior consistent statement - Permissible use - Statement used to re-establish the party's credit.

Appeal - Evidence - Witness - Credit - When trial judge's conclusions as to credit may be overturned.

Criminal law - Intentionally causing serious injury - Whether necessary to direct jury that act must be voluntary and deliberate - Evidence - Rule in Browne v Dunn - Procedure to be followed to ensure fair trial where Crown seeks to rely on breach of rule - Need for judicial warning - Jury direction - Adequacy of oral directions to jury - Trial judge's use of written material to supplement oral directions - Primacy of oral directions.

Carriers and carriage of goods - Sea carriage of goods - Sale of goods FOB Italy - Bill of lading - Liability of seller - Liability of freight forwarder - Freight forwarder arranging transport of goods by road from Italian factory gate to port of loading - Forwarder arranging shipment from port of loading to Melbourne - Short delivery of goods in Melbourne - Pre-printed form of bill of lading capable of covering both legs - Whether bill of lading as issued extended to land leg of carriage - Liability for missing goods - FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading.

Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Leave to bring common law proceedings - Serious injury - Foot fracture - Chronic regional pain syndrome - Physical origin - Loss of earning capacity - Regard to be had to the realities of the labour market - "Suitable employment" - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) ss 5 134AB(38)(f).

Criminal law - Procedure - Abuse of process - Sexual offences - Accused found not guilty of three counts of rape - Jury unable to agree on any of alternative counts of sexual penetration of a child - County Court judge staying second trial on alternative counts - Judicial review - Judge of Trial Division refusing to quash stay - Appeal - Incompetent - Whether penetration issue had been decided in accused's favour by acquittal - Supreme Court Act 1986 (No 110) ss 17(2) 17A(3) 24.

Practice and procedure - Costs - Criminal proceeding - Successful application for judicial review - Power of court to award costs.

Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Widow's claim arising from work-related death - Dependency - Earnings - Worker and wife employed by corporate trustee of family trust - Remuneration comprising wages and trust distributions - Whether evidence that distributions were earnings - Whether no evidence ground a question of law - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) ss 5A 52 82(2) 92A 92B

Conflict of laws - Foreign judgment - Enforcement - Registration in Australia - Singaporean judgments - Application to set aside registration - Whether enforcement contrary to public policy - Criteria - Substantial injustice - Foreign Judgments Act 1991 (Cth) (No 112) s 7

Companies - Civil penalty proceedings - Stay - Criminal proceedings a reasonable possibility - Risk of injustice - Substantial prejudice - Privilege against self-incrimination - Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ss 180 181 184 206C 1317E 1317G 1317K 1317L 1317M 1317N 1317P 1331.

Medical practitioners and services - Medical Practitioners Board - Jurisdiction - Unprofessional conduct - Complaint - Inquiry - Notice of hearing - Validity - Medical consultations and treatment provided in 1990-1991 - Repeal and replacement of legislative scheme in 1994 - "Unprofessional conduct" - "Failure to carry out the practitioner's duties adequately" - Medical Practitioners Act 1970 (No 8061) ss 16 17 - Medical Practice Act 1994 (No 23) s 102A

Statutes - Interpretation - Repeal and replacement of legislation - Transitional provisions - Presumption against retrospective operation.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Standards - Director's appeal - Challenge only to non-parole period - Sexual offences - Indecent assaults - Rape - Youthful offender - Guilty plea - Total effective sentence of 16 years - Non-parole period of nine years - Gravity of offences - Aggravating factors - Wanton violence - Impact on victims - Repeat offending - Six separate incidents over four months - Offender's awareness of victims' fear and distress - Cumulative blameworthiness - Community fear and protection - Denunciation - Need for salutary sentence - Non-parole period increased to 11 years.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Director's appeal - Trial judge sought Crown submission on sentencing range - Whether change of Crown position on appeal - Whether public interest required appeal against head sentence.

Criminal law - Sentence - General deterrence - Community expectations - Need for stern punishment - Culpable driving causing death and negligently causing serious injury - Combination of high speed and excess blood alcohol content - Sentence of nine years' imprisonment with six and a half year minimum not manifestly excessive - Disqualification from obtaining driver's licence - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) s 89(1A).

Criminal law - Drug offences - Trafficking - Commercial quantity - Drug of dependence - Not a requirement for trafficking a commercial quantity that individual incidents involve a commercial quantity - Mens rea - Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (No 9719).

Contract - Construction - Objective test - Hypothetical honest and reasonable business person - Financial investments - Damages claim by arbitrager - Life insurance policy - Premiums and earnings invested in portfolios of assets - Unit pricing - Categories of assets - Relatively stable cash portfolio - Secure portfolio unit price reflecting daily movements in share indices - Investors entitled to switch between categories - Notice requirement - Investor group using historical pricing and daily publication of unit prices to derive abnormal arbitrage profits - Consequent dilution of value of other policyholders' investments - Insurer detecting abnormal profit-making - Insurer changing from historical to forward pricing regime - Short selling implicitly prohibited - Statements regarding use of historical pricing not promissory - Insurer not required to guard against effects of dilution - Insurer not required to continue to fund arbitrage profits - "Three working days' notice of ... intention to switch or withdraw" - Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) ss 13 14 37 53 - Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth) ss 32 46.

Contract - Breach - Remedies - Court's power to vary contract terms - Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) ss 52 87.

Equity - Estoppel - Promissory estoppel - Object of principle - Avoidance of detriment - Life insurance - Investment scheme - Representations - Investor deriving arbitrage profits - Lost opportunity claim - Minimum equity - Investors' own unconscionable behaviour and assumption.

Criminal law - Murder - Provocation - Accused denying killing - Crown not contending for alternative verdict - Trial judge leaving manslaughter to jury - Direction - Adequacy.

Evidence - Corroboration - Definition - Evidence tending to confirm other evidence that crime committed and that accused committed crime - No requirement that corroborative evidence itself establish commission of offence and accused's involvement.

Evidence - Criminal trial - Fair trial - Crown witness - Reliability - Evidence in chief retracted in cross-examination - Whether hostile witness - Whether dangerous witness - Thynne procedure - Warning - Adequacy.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Director's appeal - Parole offences - Current sentencing practices - Order in which sentences to be served - Recidivism - Need for condign sentence - Multiple offences - Armed robbery - Inherent gravity - Cumulation - Manifest inadequacy - Totality principle - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) ss 5 16(3B).

Building contracts - Enforceability - Illegality - Major domestic building contract - Statutory regulation - Builder not registered as domestic builder - Builder not covered by domestic building work insurance - Whether contract void against builder for breach of statute - Whether builder entitled to restitutionary relief if denied contractual relief - Building Act 1993 (No 126) ss 136(2) 176(2A) - Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (No 91) s 31(1)(l).

Costs - Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal - Offer of settlement - Whether offer incomplete, ambiguous or uncertain - Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (No 53) s 112.

Criminal law - Sentence - Suspended sentence - Jurisdictional requirements - Serious offence - Assault with intent to rape - Judge not contemplating suspending whole of sentence of imprisonment - Judge not required to consider exceptional circumstances - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) s 27

Criminal law - Sentence - Appeal - Guilty plea - Notional sentence - No appeal in respect of notional sentence that would have been imposed but for guilty plea - "Sentence imposed" - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) s 6AAA - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 567(d)

Legal practitioners - Counsel's duties - Paramount duty to court - Robust advocacy - Limits - Civil jury trial - Counsel's repeated misconduct - Attack on witness - Allegation of fraudulent collusion - Duty to ensure proper foundation for cross-examination - Improper cross-examination as to credit - Breach of rule in Browne v Dunn - Impermissible cross-examination as to content of documents - Introduction of prejudicial personalised matters - Misstatement of evidence - Misuse of opening and closing addresses - Cutting off witnesses - Extreme discourtesy to judge - Disobeying judge's rulings - Victorian Bar Practice Rules rr 31 31(a) 34 38(a).

Courts and judges - Fair trial - Misconduct of counsel - Failure of opposing counsel to object or seek directions - Responsibility for taking objection to questions or conduct - No application for discharge of jury before verdict - Refusal of trial judge to vacate jury verdict - Whether judgment for defendant should be set aside - Assessment of prejudicial effect of counsel's misconduct upon jury - Miscarriage of justice inferred - Overriding responsibility of judge to ensure fair trial - Trial judge's entitlement to interrupt addresses.

Costs - Costs of appeal - Costs of trial - Personal injury claim - Misconduct of trial counsel - Unfair trial - Verdict and judgment for defendant set aside - Retrial ordered - Inaction of plaintiff's counsel at trial - Respondent ordered to pay 75% of appellant's costs of appeal - Parties ordered to bear own costs of first trial.

Criminal law - Serious sex offenders - Monitoring - Extended supervision order - Effect of order on right to be at liberty - Standard of proof - Assessment of risk - Future dangerousness - Context dictating degree of probability - Proof of likelihood - Expert assessment - Not open on evidence to conclude offender likely to commit relevant offence if released unconditionally - "Likely" - "Satisfied to a high degree of probability" - "Likely to commit a relevant offence" - Serious Sex Offenders Monitoring Act 2005 (No 1) ss 11 14 36.

Human rights - Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities - Direction that statutory provisions be interpreted compatibly with human rights - Right to liberty - Serious sex offenders - Monitoring - Extended supervision order - Whether Charter implicated - Serious Sex Offenders Monitoring Act 2005 (No 1) ss 11 14 36 - Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (No 43) ss 7(1) 12 13 21 32(1).

Evidence - Expert evidence - Court required by statute to consider expert's assessment of risk of re-offending - Evidence unchallenged and cogent - Whether court should depart from expert's assessment.

Precedent - Court of Appeal - Not strictly bound by previous decisions - Whether earlier decision clearly wrong - Liberty of the subject - Earlier decision followed by Court of Appeal of another State - Comity between intermediate appellate courts.

Statutes - Interpretation - Infringement of common law rights - Right to be at liberty - Competing meanings - Least infringing meaning to be favoured.

Tort - Intentional tort - Assault - Elements - Apprehension of harm - Subjective intention to create apprehension - Reasonableness of apprehension.

Courts and judges - Reasons for decision - Adequacy - Intelligible explanation of path of reasoning - Issues raised for determination - Failure to adjudicate on entirety of plaintiff's claims.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Road safety offences - Blood alcohol concentration - Driving motor vehicle with excess concentration - Furnishing sample of breath for analysis - Sample with excess concentration - Result of analysis read down as at time of driving - Mandatory penalty for furnishing offence could not be avoided by reference to doctrine of double punishment - Open to magistrate to reject defence that instrument not in proper working order or not properly operated - Road Safety Act 1986 (No 127) ss 49(1)(b) 49(1)(f) 49(4) 50(1A) 50(1AB)

Criminal law - Procedure - Trial - Accused - Fitness to stand trial - Mental impairment - Special hearing - Power of judge to find accused not guilty - Procedure agreed to by Crown and defence - Whether fundamental irregularity - Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 (No 65) ss 12 15 16 17 18 20 21 23.

Criminal law - Murder - Defences - Self-defence - Jury directions - Concurrent operation of statutory and common law self-defence - Crimes (Homicide) Act 2005 (No 77) - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) ss 9AC 9AD 9AE 9AF.

Criminal law - Sexual offences - Sexual penetration of child under 16 - Intent - Voluntariness - Intoxication - Alcohol - Cannabis - Failure of judge to relate facts to the law - Proviso inapplicable - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 568(1).

Criminal injuries compensation - Jurisdiction - Discretion - Rationale of modern legislative scheme - Expedited redress for straightforward claims - Entitlement - Assessment - Criteria - Allowance for limited nature of judicial examination - Victim of brutal beating and rape - Shocking injuries - Permanent disabilities - Financial circumstances of offender - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) ss 85B 85C 85F 85G 85H(1) 85H(2).

Defamation - Pleading - Defences - Imputations - Fact or comment - Interlocutory strike-out application - Jury questions - Whether open to jury to find imputations conveyed as comment - Ordinary reader's understanding - Imputations characterising plaintiff's conduct as illicit, criminal, improper or illegal - Divergence of imputations from statements in impugned publication - Inferences drawn by the publisher from facts stated in publication - Factual substratum to be stated or indicated in impugned publication - Requirement same for common law comment and statutory opinion defences - Defamation Act 2005 (No 75) s 31

Administrative law - Occupational licensing - Building practitioners - Registration - Building Practitioners Board - Inquiry - Notice - Validity - Nature of inquiry - Whether time for commencement of proceeding for offence applicable - Exercise of inherent jurisdiction - "Proceeding for an offence" - Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (No 10096) s 35(a) - Building Act 1993 (No 126) ss 16(1) 177 178 179 241(7).

Defamation - Pleading - Book - Defences - Comment - Amendment - Meaning - Whether capable of being comment - Test - Application for leave against refusal of leave to amend dismissed.