High Court of AustraliaSamuel Griffith, Edmund Barton, and Richard O'Connor This work is not backed by a scanned copy of the edition from which it was transcribed. Please see this document's talk page for details for verification. "Source" means a location at which other users can find a copy of this work. Ideally this will be a scanned copy of the original that can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and proofread. If one is not available, please explain on the talk page.

“ It is important to remember that the powers of the Parliament, so far as regards the appellate jurisdiction of the Court, are limited to prescribing "exceptions" from the otherwise unrestricted jurisdiction conferred by the Constitution, to prescribing regulations as to the exercise of the right of appeal, i.e., as to time, security, procedure, and similar matters, and to modifying the restrictions and conditions prescribed by the Orders in Council as to appeals from the Supreme Courts exercising State jurisdiction. ”

“ A distinction between the several capacities in which a Supreme Court may act is, no doubt, unfamiliar. But such a distinction between the several capacities in which a single Judge or an inferior Court may exercise jurisdiction, so that an appeal from a decision in one capacity may lie to one Court, and from a decision in another capacity to another Court, is not unusual. A familiar instance is that of the Chief Justice of New South Wales acting as such, and as a Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court. This distinction is most explicitly taken in sec. 39 of the Judiciary Act. ”

“ Had then the High Court jurisdiction to entertain appeals from judgments pronounced before the passing of the Judiciary Act? The Court, as the embodiment of the judicial power inherent in every Sovereign State, is an essential part of the structure of the Commonwealth. Sec. 73 of the Constitution has been in force from the establishment of the Commonwealth, although the power of the High Court could not, of course, be exercised until the Court was actually constituted by the Parliament. ”