Australia's High Court Holds First Sitting

Context

Australia's federation on 1 January 1901 created a national government whose powers were defined by a written Constitution. Section 71 of that document established a federal High Court to exercise the judicial power of the Commonwealth, interpret federal laws, and resolve disputes between the states and the new central authority. Because the Constitution left the detailed organisation of the Court to Parliament, further legislation was required before justices could be appointed or sittings held.

What Happened

The Judiciary Act 1903 and the High Court Procedure Act 1903 supplied the necessary framework and authorised the appointment of three initial justices. On 5 October 1903 the Governor-General, Lord Tennyson, signed their commissions at a meeting of the Federal Executive Council in Melbourne, then the seat of the Commonwealth government. The following morning the three justices assembled in the Banco Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria for the Court's inaugural sitting.

Aftermath

In a ceremony attended by the Governor-General, Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and senior legal figures from several states, the justices' commissions were read and the judicial oaths administered. Commonwealth Attorney-General Senator James George Drake presented his own commission, after which congratulatory addresses were delivered and brief replies given by Chief Justice Griffith and his colleagues. The proceedings concluded in under thirty minutes and the Court adjourned until the next day.

Legacy

The establishment of the High Court provided an independent federal judicial body capable of interpreting the Constitution and mediating the division of powers between the Commonwealth and the states. Its early decisions, beginning with D’Emden v Pedder in 1904, began to shape the practical operation of Australian federalism, a role the Court has continued to exercise for more than a century from its permanent home in Canberra.