A judge of the County Court of Victoria is functus officio with regard to a sentence entered into the court record, even where the sentence is affected by jurisdictional error. The legal consequences of jurisdictional error in inferior court orders depend on statutory construction, not on the rigid void/voidable distinction. The earlier Full Court decision in Brattoli, which held that a sentence imposed without power is a nullity leaving the sentencing power unexercised, should no longer be followed. Section 412 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (Vic) does not abrogate the functus officio doctrine. The proper remedy for a sentence made in excess of jurisdiction is appeal or certiorari, not recall by the sentencing judge.
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