Lynch v Commissioner of Police

(2022) 11 QR 609; [2022] QCA 166

Queensland Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Defences
3. › Sudden or extraordinary emergency
4. › Section 25 Criminal Code (Qld)
5. › Whether temporal element required
6. › Whether extraordinary emergency requires circumstances calling for immediate action
7. › Whether previous Court of Appeal decision wrongly decided
1. Criminal Law
2. › Defences
3. › Sudden or extraordinary emergency
4. › Comparison with Commonwealth Code provision
5. › Section 10.3 Criminal Code (Cth)
6. › Whether decisions on different statutory provisions provide basis for departing from earlier decision on s 25 Criminal Code (Qld)
1. Appeal
2. › Intermediate appellate court
3. › Departure from own previous decision
4. › Statutory construction
5. › Threshold for overruling earlier decision
6. › Whether mere preference for different construction sufficient
7. › Whether strong conviction of error required
1. Appeal
2. › Appeal from District Court in appellate jurisdiction to Court of Appeal
3. › Nature of appeal
4. › Not by way of rehearing
5. › Review of factual findings
6. › Whether findings unreasonable in Hocking v Bell sense
7. › District Court of Queensland Act 1967 (Qld), ss 118, 119

Quick Take

The defence of 'extraordinary emergency' under s 25 of the Criminal Code (Qld) retains a temporal element requiring circumstances calling for immediate action; chronic conditions managed by ongoing illegal drug use do not constitute an extraordinary emergency. Decisions of courts of other States on different statutory provisions, even where the provisions share common phrases, are not binding and provide an inadequate basis for departing from an earlier decision of the same court. An intermediate appellate court will depart from its own earlier decision on statutory construction only where it has a strong conviction that the earlier decision is plainly wrong or opposed to the undoubted intention of Parliament — a mere preference for a different construction is insufficient.