Sherman v Roads Corporation & Anor

[2011] VSCA 149

Victorian Court of Appeal

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Summary dismissal of appeal
3. › Appeal having no prospect of success
4. › Abuse of process
5. › Power to summarily dismiss under inherent jurisdiction
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Courts and judges
3. › Magistrates' Court
4. › Inherent power to set aside orders made in absence of party
5. › Whether statutory court of limited jurisdiction possesses inherent power to rehear matter
6. › Magistrates' Court Act 1989 (Vic), s 110
1. Road Traffic Law
2. › Driver licence suspension
3. › Demerit points
4. › Appeal to Magistrates' Court under s 26AA
5. › Whether Roads Corporation proper party to appeal
6. › Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic), s 26AA
7. › Road Safety (Drivers) Regulations 2009 (Vic), reg 86(1)(b)
1. Road Traffic Law
2. › Driver licence suspension
3. › Demerit points
4. › Appeal to Magistrates' Court under s 26AA
5. › Whether Magistrates' Court had power to rehear appeal
6. › Whether appeal is civil proceeding within Magistrates' Court Act 1989 (Vic), s 100(1)(d)
7. › Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic), s 26AA

A statutory court of limited jurisdiction possesses an inherent discretionary power to set aside an order made in the absence of a party and to rehear the matter, unless that power is displaced by statute (applying Taylor v Taylor and Cameron v Cole).
The Roads Corporation is a proper party to an appeal under s 26AA of the Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic), as confirmed by the requirement in the Regulations to serve the Corporation with the notice of appeal and the nature of the grounds of appeal.
Whether an appeal under s 26AA of the Road Safety Act constitutes a 'civil proceeding' within s 100 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1989 (Vic) was left open, as the inherent power to set aside orders made in absence provided an independent basis for the rehearing.