You be the Judge

I'm in the middle of a veritable Federal Court/High Court judgment-reading frenzy! Others get to romp around in the back yard.

I just finished the High Court's nail-biting O'Reilly v Commissioner of State Bank of Victoria (1983) 153 CLR 1 which dealt with the issue of the Taxation Commissioner's power to delegate authority ie whether a notice under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) was valid because it was issued by a tax officer using the stamped signature of the Deputy Tax Commissioner.

I mean, does it have to go to the lofty echelons of the Australian judicial system to get a logical pronouncement that, 'No, the Tax Commissioner and Deputy Tax Commissioner don't have to personally sign every letter or notice that is issued by the Tax Office'?

It wasn't an exciting judgment. And the Justices didn't seem particularly emotive about it either. Seems one of them died during deliberations ... and a couple of them seemed a bit put-out that the entire matter couldn't be determined by four Judges; it'd have to be finalised in the New Year when they received a replacement.

Chief Justice Gibbs said: 'That section presents difficulties of construction, and is of such importance that it would not be desirable that its effect should be decided by a court which, because of the untimely death of our late brother Aickin, is constituted by only four members'.

They're tough ... 'untimely'.

I often ponder the life of a Judge. I can't fathom how difficult it must be to write judgments. They're often so long, and it goes without saying, incredibly detailed. Even for someone like the former Justice Kirby, whose judgments were more often in the minority ... beautifully and eloquently written pieces which make for enjoyable reading, but they don't make the law. All that effort!

My preferred judgment is something akin to that of Justice Brennan in Australian Broadcasting Tribunal v Bond (1990) 170 CLR 321. It went: "I agree with the Chief Justice".

Succinct and to the point.