Supreme Court Library Act 1968

This Act may be cited as the Supreme Court Library Act 1968.

The dictionary in schedule 1 defines particular words used in this Act.

There shall be constituted a body to be called the Supreme Court Library Committee.

The committee shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in all courts and shall for the purposes and subject to the provisions of this Act be capable of acquiring, holding, alienating and disposing of property and of doing and suffering all such acts and things that a body corporate may in law do or suffer.

All courts, judges, justices and persons acting judicially shall take judicial notice of the seal of the committee affixed to any document or notice and shall, unless the contrary shall be proved, presume that it was duly affixed.

The committee is prescribed not to be a public sector entity for the Public Sector Act 2022, section 8(2)(s).

The committee shall consist of—

the chief justice or a judge of the Supreme Court appointed by the chief justice; and

the chief judge of District Courts or a judge of District Courts appointed by the chief judge of District Courts; and

the chief magistrate or a magistrate appointed by the chief magistrate; and

8 other members comprising—

4 practising barristers of at least 3 years standing, of whom 2 shall be appointed by the chief justice and 2 shall be appointed by the Bar Association of Queensland;

4 practising solicitors of at least 3 years standing, of whom 2 shall be appointed by the chief justice and 2 shall be appointed by the council of the Queensland Law Society Incorporated.

The Minister or the Minister’s nominee shall be ex officio a member of the committee.

The chairperson of the committee shall be the chief justice or the judge of the Supreme Court appointed by the chief justice as a member of the committee.

If the chairperson is absent from a meeting after a quorum is constituted, the members present shall elect from their number a chairperson for that meeting, and a member so elected shall, while so acting, have all the powers, duties and functions of the chairperson under this Act.

The chairperson shall have a deliberative vote and, in the event of an equality of votes, a casting vote.

Appointments to the committee for the year next following shall be made in the month of December of each year.

Members of the committee shall hold office for 1 year commencing on and from 1 January next following their appointments thereto.

The office of a member of the committee shall become vacant if the member—

dies or resigns his or her office by signed notice delivered to the chief justice;

is absent from meetings of the committee for a continuing period of 6 months, without prior leave of the committee;

does not hold a local practising certificate, or has a practising certificate that is suspended, under the Legal Profession Act 2007.

Where a vacancy occurs in the office of a member of the committee appointed pursuant to subsection (1)(d) during the term of office of the members then constituting the committee, the chief justice shall appoint to the vacant office another practising barrister or solicitor of like standing who shall hold office until 31 December next following his or her appointment as a member.

Where, in the month of December in any year, the chief justice appoints a judge of the Supreme Court as the chairperson of the committee, the chief justice may also, at the same time, appoint another judge of the Supreme Court to act in the stead of the judge first appointed while that judge is absent on leave.

The chief justice may at any time appoint a judge of the Supreme Court to act as the chairperson during the absence on leave or the inability to act for any reason of the chairperson of the committee or other judge appointed to act as the chairperson pursuant to subsection (4B).

The chief judge of District Courts may at any time appoint a judge of District Courts to act as a member of the committee during the absence on leave or the inability to act for any reason of the chief judge of District Courts or of the judge of District Courts appointed by the chief judge of District Courts to the committee.

The chief magistrate may at any time appoint a magistrate to act as a member of the committee during the absence on leave or the inability to act for any reason of the chief magistrate or of the magistrate appointed by the chief magistrate to the committee.

At any meeting of the committee 6 members shall constitute a quorum.

Subject to there being a quorum, a proceeding of the committee shall not be invalidated by reason only of a vacancy in the office of a member of the committee at the time of that proceeding.

Immediately after the date of commencement of the Supreme Court Library Act Amendment Act 1973 the committee shall furnish to the registrar of the Supreme Court at Brisbane a notice setting forth the names and other relevant particulars of the persons who from time to time since the date of commencement of this Act constituted or were appointed to the committee and thereafter as soon as reasonably practicable—

shall upon the constitution of the committee for each year furnish to the registrar notice of the names and other relevant particulars of the persons by whom the committee is constituted for that year and of the judge appointed pursuant to subsection (4B); and

shall upon a change in the members constituting the committee occurring in any year furnish to the registrar notice of relevant particulars of that change.

The registrar shall file in the central registry at Brisbane every notice furnished to the registrar pursuant to subsection (7).

A certificate sealed with the seal of the committee purporting to deal with the acts or proceedings of the committee shall be receivable in all courts and judicial proceedings as evidence of the truth of the matters certified to therein.

The following property shall vest in the committee—

all property which has heretofore been on loan from any department of the government to, been treated or should have been treated as belonging to, or forming part of, or being for the benefit of, any 1 or more or all, of the libraries of the Supreme Court at Brisbane, Rockhampton, and Townsville;

without derogating from the generality of paragraph (a)—

all property including all books, reports, manuscripts, pamphlets, papers, documents and chattels presently or normally regarded or treated as belonging to or forming part of any 1 or more or all of the said libraries of the Supreme Court at Brisbane, Rockhampton, and Townsville including such as be presently or normally contained in (notwithstanding the present whereabouts of the same) all rooms or premises known or used as or utilised for the purposes of the said libraries;

all Commonwealth treasury bonds, all Commonwealth Government special bonds, and all Commonwealth Securities held at the Bank of New South Wales, Queen and George Streets, Brisbane in the names of the Honourable Sir William George Mack and Margaret Alison Golliker;

all inscribed stock and the interest thereon and rights in relation thereto in Southern Electric Authority Loan No. 264 maturing on 31 October 1974, in the names of Sir William George Mack and Graham Lloyd Hart;

all moneys in or to be credited to the current account in the name of the Supreme Court Library Fund at the Bank of New South Wales, Queen and George Streets, Brisbane;

all moneys in or to be credited to an account in the name of Northern Supreme Court Library Committee at the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia, Townsville Branch, Account Number S 3198;

all moneys in or to be credited to an account in the name of Central Supreme Court Library at the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia, Rockhampton Branch, Account Number S 3954.

All persons in or by whom any property referred to in subsection (1), shall be vested or held shall do and effect all such deeds, acts and things as may be necessary to vest the same in the name of the committee.

All such property together with all other property which may be acquired by or devolve upon the committee shall be held administered and appropriated by the committee under this Act.

A lawyer may give an historic document to the committee, without obtaining the consent of an interested person for the historic document, if—

giving the historic document—

is not contrary to an express instruction given to the lawyer by the interested person; and

is unlikely to adversely affect the interested person; and

it is not reasonably practicable to obtain the consent of the interested person.

The committee must take reasonable steps to preserve the historic document after receiving it.

The giving of an historic document to the committee does not affect—

any right a person may have to recover possession of the historic document; or

legal professional privilege attaching to the historic document, or the information contained in the historic document.

The committee may use or disclose an historic document given to the committee only if—

the use or disclosure is for historical or educational purposes; and

the historic document is at least 100 years old, or if the historic document is a copy of another document, the other document is at least 100 years old.

In this section—

give includes loan.

historic document means a document that is considered by the committee to have sufficient historical significance to justify its preservation, and includes a copy of the document.

interested person, for an historic document, means a person having a legal right to object to a lawyer giving the document to the committee.

The trusts on which property vests in the committee shall be public charitable trusts and the committee shall be a body constituted for public charitable purposes.

Under the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982, the committee is a statutory body.

The Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982, part 2B sets out the way in which the committee’s powers under this Act are affected by the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982.

The committee has the following functions—

managing and controlling the Supreme Court library;

promoting the purposes and interests of the Supreme Court library;

doing all things necessary, expedient or desirable for the benefit, preservation, maintenance, upkeep, expansion, improvement and housing of the Supreme Court library;

monitoring and collating information about sentences imposed by courts;

maintaining and administering QSIS.

The committee may delegate its functions under part 3 to the following—

a member;

a subcommittee;

an appropriately qualified employee.