Criminal law - Share market manipulation - Artificial price - Whether transaction having or likely to have effect of creating artificial price for shares on Australian Stock Exchange ("ASX") - American juridical conceptions - Cornering - Squeezing - Sole or dominant purpose test inapplicable for purposes of s 1041A - Fault element of offence under s 1041A - "Artificial price" - Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ss 1041A 1041B 1041C

Practice and procedure - Referred question of law and case stated - Not open to judge to find disputed facts for limited purpose of case stated - Applications for leave to appeal - "Arises" - Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) s 11.5 - Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (No 7) ss 295 302 304 305

Practice and procedure - Suppression order - County Court - Sentencing remarks - Jointly-tried accused - Mitigation - Judge receiving material concerning co-accused's co-operation with authorities - Limited non-publication order by trial judge - Access by other co-accused to transcript - Proper process not followed - Access obtained contrary to non-publication order - Application to be made in court on notice to other side - Ex parte communication with trial judge's associate - Communication between party and the court must include all relevant parties - County Court Act 1958 (No 6230) s 80(1)

Criminal law - Sentencing - General principles - Family hardship to be disregarded - Rationale - Residual discretion to permit exceptional departure - Drug trafficking - Border controlled substance - Importation - Possession - Total effective sentence of 12 months' imprisonment, to be released after serving three months and upon giving a recognisance of $2000 to be of good behaviour for two years - Fresh evidence - Applicant's young son diagnosed with leukaemia - Proper basis for discretionary departure from principle - Date for release on recognisance varied to equate with time already served - Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) s 16A(2)(p)

Criminal law - Drug trafficking offences - Trial - Attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported border controlled drug - Elements - Prosecution alleging joint criminal enterprise - Prosecution not required to prove agreement to possess commercial quantity of drug - Prosecution required to prove act of participation by accused in enterprise - Extent of particulars of offence required - Prosecution required to prove agreement to possess the border controlled drug specified in the particulars to the charge - Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) ss 11.1 11.2A 305.7(1)

Mortgages - Residential property - Mortgagee - Rights over security - Power of sale - Duties - Ambit - Duty to act in good faith - No duty to have regard to mortgagor's home occupation interest - Interests of other security holders - "Interests of the mortgagor" - Transfer of Land Act 1958 (No 6399) ss 77(1) 77(4) 81(1).

Mortgages - Attornment clause - Mortgagor becoming weekly tenant - Mortgagor defaulting - Mortgagee obtaining judgment for possession - Mortgagor issuing proceeding to obtain order for particular method of sale - Mortgagee agreeing to permit subdivision of land - Mortgagor not free to bargain away rights arising from mortgagee's duties in exercise of statutory power of sale - Transfer of Land Act 1958 (No 6399) s 77(1).

Mortgages - Power of sale - Mortgagee's duties - Breach - Equitable entitlement to an account - Measure of damages - Memorandum of Common Provisions cl 24 - Transfer of Land Act 1958 (No 6399)

Contract - Interpretation - Context - Deed settling litigation between mortgagor and mortgagee concerning mortgagee's method of exercise of power of sale - Land in multiple lots - Deed giving mortgagee absolute discretion - Mortgagor's preference for particular order of sale subordinated to mortgagee's security interest - Public policy considerations.

Damages - Personal injury - Economic loss - Assessment - Statutory maximum - Case stated - Whether maximum applicable to final award of damages or part of process in assessing damages - Legislative intent clear - "Award" - Wrongs Act 1958 (No 6420) s 28F(2)

Statutes - Interpretation - Presumptions - Non-interference with common law rights - Displacement - Express language - Presumption displaced.

Contract - Construction - Ambiguity - Latent - Patent - Need for recourse to surrounding circumstances - Negotiation agreement for proposed land development - Term providing for compensation upon party giving notice - Whether negotiations had to be on foot when notice given - "Wishes to terminate further negotiations".

Practice and procedure - Fair trial - Negligence - Personal injuries - Fruit picker - Fall from ladder - Jury trial - Closing address of defendant's counsel - Mention of workers compensation payments - Suggestion about worker's lessened urgency to return to work - Breach of rule in Browne v Dunn - Application to discharge jury refused - Duty of trial judge - Applicable principles - Matter corrected by direction from trial judge to jury - Retraction by defendant's counsel - No miscarriage of justice.

Criminal law - Commonwealth drug offences - Importation of border controlled drug - Cocaine - Marketable quantity - Possession - Manufacture - Extraction of cocaine from impregnated clothes - No "manufacture" - Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) s 305.

Criminal law - Appeal against conviction - Accused convicted on guilty plea - Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (No 7) ss 276(1)(c) 277(3).

Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Serious injury - Physical and psychological injuries - Statutory certificate for psychological injuries only - Whether worker confined in damages claim to certified injury - Whether once a serious injury established total injury compensable - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) ss 5 82 91 98C 104B 134AB(1) (2) (37)

Criminal law - Sexual offences - Indecent assault against child under 10 - Children former students of accused 30 years ago - Whether judge erred in failing to give a forensic disadvantage direction - Application by accused not an indispensable precondition to forensic disadvantage direction - No request made to give forensic disadvantage direction - Whether fresh evidence adduced after trial demonstrated a substantial miscarriage of justice - Verdicts unsafe and unsatisfactory - Appeal allowed - Verdicts of acquittal entered - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 61 - Evidence Act 2008 (No 47) s 165B

Tort - Negligence - Breach of statutory duty - Employer and employee - Personal injuries - Causation - Contributory negligence - Jury trial - Breach of duty by omission - Hospital - Emergency ward - Staff numbers - Night-time shift - Nurse attending patient at risk of death - Nurse injuring back while attempting to move patient - Whether presence of additional staff would have prevented injury - Whether plaintiff failed to comply with employer's safety policies - Whether judge's directions adequate.

Practice and procedure - Jury verdict - Defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding verdict - Motion rejected - Verdict reasonably open.

Equity - Unconscionable conduct - Special disability or disadvantage - Amadio - Payments by elderly man to or for benefit of younger woman - Louth v Diprose - Infatuation and clouded judgment not amounting to special disability or disadvantage - Mere folly - Whether payments made were gifts.

Judgments, declarations and orders - County Court - Order purporting to stay legislative settlement offer process - Whether stay beyond power - Implied incidental jurisdiction - Accident compensation - Leave granted to claim common law pain and suffering damages - Leave refused to claim pecuniary loss damages - Grant of stay pending appeal - Whether order lacked utility - "Matters occurring after judgment" - "To make such order as the nature of the case requires" - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) ss 134AB(12) 134AB(16)(b) - County Court Act 1958 (No 6230) s 49 - County Court Civil Procedure Rules 2008 rr 66.14 66.16

Criminal law - Sentencing - Murder - Murder of domestic partner not a less heinous category of offence - Relevance of provocation or great emotional stress - Primacy of denunciation, general deterrence and just punishment - Proportionality of non-parole period to head sentence.

Criminal law - Sentence - Appeal - Current sentencing practices - Adequacy - Director inviting observations that current practice inadequate - Criteria - Inappropriate case - Whether opinion as to adequacy a live issue on appeal - Recklessly causing serious injury - Guilty plea - Punch to face - Offender on suspended sentence for same offence - Sentence of five years' imprisonment an unjustified departure from current practice - Appeal allowed and offender resentenced to three years and six months' imprisonment - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) ss 5(2)(b) 6AC(c)

Accident compensation - Workers compensation - Entitlement - One claim only per compensable event - Physical injuries - Permanent disability - Claim for lump sum compensation - Later claim for psychiatric injury arising from same event - First claim vitiated by claimant's mental incapacity - Appellant incapable of recognising own psychiatric impairment - Second claim not barred - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) ss 45 98C 104B(5A) 104B(5AA)

Appeal - Question of law - Whether open to challenge primary decision as not open on evidence - Whether open to contend that primary judge bound to reach different conclusion - "Raised during those proceedings" - Accident Compensation Act 1985 (No 10191) s 52(1)

Criminal law - Sentencing - Manslaughter - Unlawful and dangerous act - Prank between two friends resulting in quarrel and fatal stabbing of one - Total effective sentence of 11 years' imprisonment and non-parole period of eight years - Findings - Remorse - Degree - Assessment - Difficulty - Finding ordinarily non-appellable - Regret distinguished - Comparison of unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter and defensive homicide - Relevance of provocation to sentencing - Sentence manifestly excessive - Offender resentenced to nine years' imprisonment and non-parole period of six years.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Procedural fairness - Findings - Sentencing judge's rejection or qualified reception of defence submissions - Inherent risk facing counsel - Judge not required to disclose process of formation of findings - Prospect of relevance of adverse material requiring prior disclosure by judge.

Criminal law - Murder - Circumstantial evidence - Post-offence conduct - Lies - Concealment of body - Whether accused's explanation raised reasonable doubt - When jury direction called for - Verdict not unsafe and unsatisfactory.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Spousal murder - Sentence of 22 years' imprisonment with non-parole period of 18 years not manifestly excessive.

Criminal law - Forfeiture - Jurisdiction - Order made by consent - Open to challenge on appeal - Property used in connection with commission of offence - Whether turned to advantage - Mere location - "Tainted property" - "Used" - Confiscation Act 1997 (No 108) ss 3 32 33.

Contract - Construction - Objective approach - Parties' intentions - Parol evidence rule - Exceptions and qualifications - Entire agreement clause - Pre-contractual negotiations - Extrinsic evidence of parties' actual intentions inadmissible - Retirement village - Contracts to design, construct and manage facility - Context - Independent living units - Legislation regulating provision of accommodation and services to elderly persons - Parties taken to be eschewing provision of special or personal care - Health Services Act 1988 (No 49) ss 3 111 - Retirement Villages Act 1986 (No 126)

Contract - Rescission notices - Validity - Required to be clear and unambiguous - Multiple notices served - Earlier notices not withdrawn - Confusing as to how to remedy alleged default - Inconsistent with subsequent pleadings - Estoppel by convention - Excluded by parol evidence rule.

Contract - Assignment of rights - Change in ownership of corporate party not equivalent to assignment - Assignment permissible under contract.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Current sentencing practices - Rape - Sentence of seven years' imprisonment - Sentence clearly within range.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Director's appeal - Availability - Strict criteria - Director's obligatory considerations - Whether different sentence should have been passed - Appeal to be in the public interest - Conduct of appeal - Director not pressing manifest inadequacy case - Invitation to court to publish table of indicative sentences - Appeal which should not have been brought - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 567A - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) s 5(2)

Criminal law - Sentencing - Non-parole period - Relationship with head sentence - Usual proportion - Concept not applicable in all cases regardless of head sentence - Drug trafficking - Large commercial quantity - Methylamphetamine - Total effective sentence - Ten years' imprisonment - Non-parole period of seven years and six months - Appeal dismissed.

Equity - Unconscionable conduct - Special disability - Alleged psychiatric condition - Pathological gambling - Alleged impaired judgment - Capacity to make rational decisions concerning frequency of gambling and amount of money wagered - Situational disability - Casino gambling - Casino operator's statutory power to exclude gambler from premises - Plaintiff subject to exclusion order imposed in New South Wales - Winnings forfeited to State - Casino operator offering incentives to plaintiff - Terms not less advantageous than those offered to other gamblers - Casino's knowledge of special disability - No unconscientious taking of alleged disadvantage - Casino Control Act 1991 (No 47) - Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) ss 51AA 82 87(2)(d)

Criminal law - Sentencing - Murder - Patricide - Accused's long history of violence directed towards father - Guilty plea - Discount - Weight - Objective considerations - Remorse and other subjective considerations - Sentencing judge characterising Crown case as overwhelming - When strength or weakness of Crown case capable of affecting subjective dimensions of guilty plea - Obligation of sentencing judge to consider significance of guilty plea in reasons - Total effective sentence of 23 years' imprisonment - Non-parole period of 19 years - Sentence not manifestly excessive - No different sentence imposed despite specific error - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) ss 5(2)(e) 6AAA

Criminal law - Confiscation - Forfeiture application - Tainted property - "Used in connection with the commission of the offence" - Confiscation Act 1997 (No 108) ss 3 32 33

Medical practitioners and services - Patient - Entitlement to undergo treatment - Assisted reproduction (IVF) - Married couple - Barriers to treatment - Statutory presumption against treatment - Criteria - Husband's convictions for sex offences against minor - Guiding statutory principles - Paramount interest of person born or to be born - Patient Review Panel deciding there was barrier to treatment - Relevant considerations - Not limited to matters giving rise to presumption - Not limited to whether matter giving rise to presumption created a risk of harm to child to be born - Risk factors to be identifiable and established - Requirement of real risk of harm - "Welfare and interests of persons born" - "Best interests of a child" - Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 (No 76) ss 5(a) 10(1)(a) 10(1)(b)(i) (ii) 10(2) 14(1)(a) 15(1) 15(3)(b)(ii) 85(b) 91(3)

Administrative law - Merits review - Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) - Review of decision of Patient Review Panel - VCAT majority setting aside panel decision - VCAT requiring appellant to complete counselling course.

Administrative law - Merits review - Procedure - Original decision-maker seeking to uphold its decision and overturn review - Preference for true contradictor to bring any review or appeal.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Current sentencing practices - Objective seriousness of offending - Increase of maximum penalty from 15 to 25 years' imprisonment - Aggravated burglary - Confrontational incident - Home invasion - Use of weapon - Personal grudge - Offender's knowledge or belief that person was at home - Current sentencing practice requiring change - Guidance for judges - Role of Director of Public Prosecutions in evolution of change - Sentence of four and a half years' imprisonment not manifestly excessive - Crimes Act 1958 (No 6231) s 77 - Sentencing Act 1991 (No 49) s 5(2)(a) (b)