Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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HIGH COURT RULES (AMENDMENT) 1991 NO. 473

Statutory Rule 1991 No. 473

Issued by the authority of the Justices of the High Court of Australia.

Amendments to the High Court Rules

1.       Order 43A

Order 43A is repealed and new rules substituted.

The new rules give effect to the current practice of providing for interest on judgment debts (rule 1) and provide for costs orders made by the Court to carry interest from the date of the Certificate of Taxation signed by the Taxing Officer of the Court. (rule 2).

Both rules provide that the applicable interest rate shall be the prescribed rate of interest applicable to judgments of the Supreme Court of the State or Territory in which the judgment debt is entered, or, in the case of an award of costs, the prescribed rate of interest applicable to judgments of the Supreme Court of the State or Territory in which the proceeding before the Court was pending.

The previous rule prescribed the rate of interest applicable to judgment debts, which, on occasions was lower than the current rate of interest applicable in the Federal Court, and in the Supreme Courts of the States and Territories.

The new rules will ensure that litigants in the State or Territory in which a judgment debt is entered, or, an award of costs is made in their favour, will not be disadvantaged by an interest rate which may be less than the prescribed rate in their particular State or Territory.

2.       Order 60 Rule 4

Order 60 Rule 4 governs the taking of proceedings in court vacations.

The general rule is that in court vacations ordinary proceedings such as the filing of non-originating process or the hearing of interlocutory applications cannot take place without an order of the Court or a Justice.

The rule that time does not run during the long vacation is an anachronism today and is against the public interest. The Court considers that the general rule should be abolished save for one exception namely the serving, filing or amending of pleadings.

Rule 4 is therefore repealed and a new rule incorporating the above changes is substituted.

3.       Order 69A Rules 1 and 4

Rules 1 and 4 are amended by the addition of the words "leave or" before the words "special leave to appeal" wherever appearing in the rules.

These amendments bring applications for leave to appeal from interlocutory judgments of Justices of the High Court under the procedural requirements of Order 69A.

4.       Order 73

These new rules are introduced to overcome procedural difficulties which have occurred during proceedings raising Constitutional issues. The Court has had occasion to adjourn proceedings because a notice under Section 78B of the Judiciary Act 1903 had not been given to the appropriate Attorney-General, or because a notice had not been given within a reasonable time.

5.       The following rules have been repealed because the Court no longer exercises the jurisdiction to which the rules relate.

RULE Order 53 Order 65 Order 66 Order 66A Order 66B                 Order 67 Order 67A

SUBJECT MATTER References in Admiralty Actions Taxation Appeals Industrial Property Proceedings under the Patents Act 1952-1954 Proceedings under the Trade Marks Act 19551958 Life Insurance Act 1954 Special Cases under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959

6.        Provision is made for a precedent form to enable practitioners to prepare a notice under Section 78B of the Judiciary Act 1903 as provided for in Order 73.