Wiest, E.A. v. The Director of Public Prosecutions & Anor [1988] FCA 271
Federal Court of Australia
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27)
JUDGMENT No. BEES
CATCHWORDS
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - application seeking order restraining
proceedings on a second warrant for extradition - whether
court should interfere in proceedings before a magistrate -—
whether extradition proceedings are administrative or judicial
in nature - whether a decision of a magistrate under s.17 of
the Extradition (Foreign States) Act is final - whether first
order made by magistrate prevents subsequent proceedings for
extradition being brought - res judicata - issue estoppel.
Amrit Lal Narain v. Parnell (1986) 9 F.C.R. 479
Newby v. Moodie and Another (1987) 88 A.T.C. 4072
oeller v. Federal Republic of Germany and Others (unreported,
delivered 2 larc
The Administration of Papua New Guinea v. Daera Guba (1973)
United States v. Ford and Frary 29 D.L.R. 80
Extradition (Foreign States) Act 1966 (Cth)
Administrative becisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth)
Judiciary Ac Cc 8.39B
EUGEN ALEXANDER WIEST v. THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
AND ANOTHER
No. G95i of 1988
Davies J.
27 May 1988
Sydney
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY No. G951 of 1988
GENERAL DIVISION
BETWEEN: EUGEN ALEXANDER WIEST
Applicant
AND: THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC
PROSECUTIONS
First Respondent
AND: THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
GERMANY
Second Respondent
CORAM: Davies J.
DATE: 27 May 1988
PLACE: Sydney
MINUTES OF ORDER
THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
The application be dismissed with costs.
NOTE: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in
Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.
IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY No. G951 of 1988
ee ee
GENERAL DIVISION
BETWEEN: EUGEN ALEXANDER WIEST
Applicant
AND: THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC
PROSECUTIONS
First Respondent
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
GERMANY
is
Second Respondent
CORAM: Davies J.
DATE: 27 May 1988
PLACE: Sydney
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
The issues in these proceedings arise from the
circumstance that the applicant, Eugen Alexander Wiest, is the
subject of a second set of proceedings before a Magistrate
seeking his extradition to the Federal Republic of Germany
pursuant to the Extradition (Foreign States) Act 1966 (Cth)("the
Act").
In the first set of proceedings, which commenced with
the arrest of the applicant on 21 October 1987 and concluded with
an order for his release on 27 April 1988, there was a deficiency
in the material presented to the learned Magistrate, Mr D.B. Armati.
2.
The form of undertaking which was tendered in evidence to comply
with 8.13(2) of the Act was in the form which Sheppard J. in
Zoeller v. Federal Republic of Germany & Others (unreported,
delivered 22 March 1988) held to be defective. In those first
proceedings, counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions
sought leave to reopen his case so as to tender an additional
undertaking in proper form. The learned Magistrate refused leave
to reopen and ordered that the applicant be released.
On the same day, the applicant was again arrested and
new proceedings for the extradition of the applicant to the
Federal Republic of Germany were commenced. The applicant is now
remanded on bail to appear on 30 May 1988 to answer the second
warrant. The matters to be considered in these second proceedings
are substantially identical with those in the first, save that
the Director of Public Prosecutions intends to tender the new
undertaking.
The jurisdiction of the Court is that arising under the
Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) and
also that arising under s.39B of the Judiciary Act 1901 (Cth).
The application in form seeks an order restraining the first and
second respondents from proceeding on the second warrant dated 27
April 1988, but at the hearing no order was sought against the
second respondent.
Recently Fox J. in Newby v. Moodie and Another (1987) 88
A.T.C. 4072, pointed out that the Court will rarely interfere
3.
with the exercise of a discretion to prosecute in criminal
proceedings. His Honour said at p.4074:-
"Following well-established authority, the exercise of
the discretion to prosecute is not open to review in the
courts (Hill v. Chief Constable of West Yorkshire [1987]
2 W.L.R. 1126 at 1133-34, The Queen v. Toohey; Ex parte
Northern Land Council (1980-1981) 151 C.L.R. 170 at 283,
Barton v. The Queen (1980) 147 C.L.R. 75 at pp.94, 96,
107 and 109-110, The Queen v. McAuley; Ex parte Fardell
(1979) 41 F.L.R. 267 at p.274, The Queen v. Commissioner
of Police of the Metropolis; Ex parte Blackburn [1968] 2
Q.B. 118 at p.136)."
His Honour also referred to Lamb v. Moss (1983) 49 A.L.R. 533 and
said that, if the matter were one for the discretion of the
Court, he would execise his discretion not to intervene. In
Holmes v. The Deputy Commissioner of Taxation delivered 13 May
1988, I expressed a like view. On 18 March 1988, when refusing
to grant special leave to appeal in Vereker and Others v.
O'Donovan, [1988] 6 Leg Rep SL 3, Mason C.J., Wilson and Gaudron
JJ. said:-
"... it (the jurisdiction exercised by the Federal Court
in relation to committal proceedings) is a jurisdiction
to be exercised very sparingly and in most exceptional
cases only."
Such remarks are also apposite to proceedings brought before a
magistrate with respect to extradition. There must be
exceptional circumstances to justify the Court's intervention in
the proceedings before the magistrate.
In the present case, I take the same view as did Fox J.
in Newby v. Moodie and Another, cited above. The Court should
not intervene insofar as the bringing of the second proceedings
is alleged to be an abuse of process by reason of the first
4.
proceedings, their conduct and prejudice caused to the applicant
thereby. Insofar as those matters have merit, and as to that I
say nothing, they are matters which should be put to the learned
Magistrate when the matter comes before him on 30 May 1988. They
are not matters which call for the Court's intervention at this
stage. The Magistrate has jurisdiction to consider such
submissions and it is not an abuse of process for him to do so.
It is for the Magistrate to consider and determine, at least in
the first instance, whether there has been an abuse of process
justifying the dismissal of the current proceedings.
An exceptional ground for the Court's intervention may,
however, arise if both parties submit, as they did in this case,
that the Court should determine a discrete and important point of
law which arises in the proceedings before the magistrate. The
Court is not bound to act upon the request of the parties, for it
has a discretion whether or not to do so, but it may see fit to
do so, eg., when the point of law is an appropriate one for the
decision of the Court, when to do so will do justice between the
parties and when a decision of the point will not delay the
proceedings before the magistrate.
In the present case, those circumstances are met. I
therefore propose to deal at this stage with the submissions made
by Mr J.S. Coombs Q.C., with whom Mr I.A. Shearer appeared for
the applicant, that the order made by the learned Magistrate on
27 April 1988 releasing the applicant was an order which finally
released the applicant from extradition with respect to the
charges to which those proceedings related. Mr Coombs relied
upon the principles of res judicata and issue estoppel and also
upon the nature of the function of the Magistrate as gleaned from
the Act.
I need not discuss the general principles with respect
to res judicata and issue estoppel. It is sufficient to refer to
Port of Melbourne Authority v. Anshun Pty Ltd (1981) 147 C.L.R.
589 at 597-604, Chamberlain v. Deputy Commissioner of Taxation,
Brennan, Deane, Dawson, Toohey and Gaudron JJ. delivered 12 May
1988 and to SCI Operations Pty Ltd & Anor v. Trade Practices
Commission & Ors (1984) 53 A.L.R. 253 at 346-351. The issue now
is whether those principles apply to the decision of the
Magistrate of 27 April 1988.
Clearly, the nature of the function of a magistrate
under the Act is more administrative than judicial. This matter
was considered by Burchett J. in Amrit Lal Narain v. Parnell
(1986) 9 F.C.R. 479. His Honour was there considering the
exercise by a magistrate of the function of granting bail but
expressed his view more widely. At p.483, his Honour said:-
"That the decision upon the question of bail is an
administrative one seems to me to follow from the nature
of the functions of a magistrate under the Act, to which
Tt shall refer later in these reasons, and to be in
keeping with the authorities which hold that a
magistrate hearing committal proceedings is acting in an
administrative, not a judicial, capacity. In Ex parte
Cousens; Re Blacket (1946) 47 SR (NSW) 145 at 146-147,
Jordan CJ, speaking for a Full Court, contrasted the
judicial duties of magistrates with their duties in
respect of committal Rearings. He said:
'In relation to charges of offences which they have
no jurisdiction to try and dispose of, their
authority is not judicial; they do not determine
whether the accused is guilty or not guilty; they
consider the evidence adduced against him, and if
6.
they think that there is enough to justify putting
him upon his trial, they direct that he be held, or
bailed, for trial by a court which has jurisdiction
to try him. This is essentially an executive and
not a judicial function; and although magistrates
have been exercising this authority for nearly four
hundred years, no instance can be found of a
superior court having interfered with a magistrate
by certiorari or prohibition in his exercise of
this function: see Cox v Coleridge (1822) 1Bé&C
37, 107 ER 15. It is quite true, as was pointed
out by Griffith CJ in Buddart Parker & Co Pty Ltd v
Moorehead (1909) 8 CLR 330 at 357, that, in the
course of the nineteenth century, many laws were
passed both in England and Australia regulating the
procedure in such inquiries, but, as his Honour
also pointed out, they have not the effect of
altering the essential nature of the inquiry, which
cannot be regarded now, any more than formerly, as
an exercise of judicial functions.'
There have been a number of more recent decisions
affirming the administrative character of committal
hearings (see Ammann v Wegener (1972) 129 CLR 415 at
435; Pearce v Cocchiaro (1977) 137 CLR 600; Lamb v Moss
(1983) 49 ALR 533; and R v Murphy (1985) 59 ALUR 682 at
684), but I have quoted from the judgment of Jordan CJ
in Cousens' case, perhaps unnecessarily, because its
Language emphasises that the decision whether to release
on bail is an integral part of the administrative
function of the magistrate. (As to this, see also the
Chief Justice's further remarks at 685-686.)
In the present case, the decision was not made in the
exercise of a general power to grant bail to persons
charged with indictable offences. It was made under the
specific power conferred by s 26(2). But I think that
power is likewise administrative in nature, being not
only comparable to the corresponding power of a
committing magistrate, but also an incident of the
performance of duties in respect of extradition
procedures which are themselves administrative: see
Riley v Evans (1983) 50 ALR 593, and on appeal Riley v
The Commonwealth (1984) 57 ALR 249; Prevato v The
Governor, Hetropolitan Remand Centre (1986) 8 FCR 358. "
His Honour's view finds strong confirmation in the terms
of the Act and the context in which the magistrate's functions
play a part. The procedures of extradition are administrative
involving a requisition by a foreign State for the surrender of a
fugitive who is in or on the way to Australia, a notice by the
7.
Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia stating that
the requisition has been made and, if necessary, authorising the
issuing of a warrant of apprehension, the issuing of a warrant of
apprehension under s.16 of the Act, proceedings before a
magistrate in which the question before the magistrate is that
posed in s.17(6)(b), namely, whether the magistrate "is
satisfied, after taking into account any evidence properly
adduced by the person, that the person is liable to be
surrendered to the foreign State that made the requisition for
the surrender", the issue by the magistrate, if so satisfied, of
a warrant committing the person to prison to await the warrant of
the Attorney-General for the surrender of the person and,
finally, the issue by the Attorney-General, if he is satisfied
that the fugitive is liable to be surrendered to the foreign
State and that the requisition for the surrender has not been
made in relation to an offence of a political character, of a
warrant authorising the taking of the fugitive and the conveying
of him to the foreign State and of there surrendering him to a
person appointed by the foreign State to receive him.
These are all steps of an administrative character.
They have little judicial element in them save that they involve
the formation by a magistrate after a hearing of an opinion as to
whether or not the matters specified for his consideration have
been fulfilled.
In Lamb v. Moss & Anor. (1983) 49 A.L.R. 533, Bowen
C.J., Sheppard and Fitzgerald JJ. examined the function of a
magistrate in committal proceedings and held that those functions
were administrative for the purposes of the Administrative
Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth). In R. v. Murphy
(1985) 1586 C.L.R. 596, Gibbs C.J., Mason, Wilson, Brennan, Deane
and Dawson JJ. said that such proceedings were sui generis and
had a distinctive judicial character because they were civil
proceedings. Their Honours held nevertheless that committal
proceedings were properly to be regarded as non-judicial in
character.
Extradition proceedings have even more clearly the
character of administrative proceedings, for they do not, as do
committal proceedings, have a connection with the exercise of
judicial power.
Extradition is not a matter which is regulated by
international law. The duty to extradite arises ordinarily from
a treaty and, if necessary, a local statute or statutes
implementing the treaty obligation. As Lord Russell C.J. said in
In_ce Arton, No.1 [1896] 1 Q.B. 108 at p.111:-
"The law of extradition is, without doubt, founded upon
the broad principle that it is to the interest of
civilized communities that crimes, acknowledged to be
such, should not go unpunished, and it is part of the
comity of nations that one state should afford to
another every assistance towards bringing persons guilty
of such crimes to justice."
Judicial involvement in the extradition process is by way of
control and supervision only. As O'Connell on International Law,
2nd Ed., at p.730 states:-—
"Judicial control over extradition is a matter for
municipal law, which may dispense with it and leave
extradition to the Executive. This was the case with
France until 1927. Like the French system under the law
of that year the Anglo-American law is described as
'facultative'; that is, the court must decide if there
is a good claim for extradition and then the Executive
may, but is not obliged to, accede to the request for
extradition."
It should also be noted that an extradition is not a
final judgment determining rights and liabilities. An order in
respect of extradition does not amount to a conviction.
Extradition proceedings involve the return of a person who is in
Australia to another country where that person has been convicted
of a crime or is to be tried for a crime. Extradition is as,
O'Connell states, facultative of criminal justice.
Mr Coombs submitted that the process had been
categorised as administrative because, until the Act was amended
in 1985 by Act No. 18 of 1985, the magistrate had the task of
examining whether or not there was a prima facie case of guilt,
having regard to the evidence against the person to be
extradited. Mr Coombs submitted that such an examination, being
similar to that undertaken by a magistrate in committal
proceedings, required that extradition proceedings be
characterised as administrative in nature, by analogy with
committal proceedings. He submitted that the amendment made in
1985 withdrawing this examination from the function of a
magistrate destroyed the analogy.
However, it does not follow from the omission of the
requirement for an examination of a prima facie case that
extradition proceedings before a magistrate are judicial in
nature. Rather, the function now tends more to the ministerial,
10.
for the element which required the exercise of a judicial type
consideration, namely the formation of a judgment as to the
existence of a prima facie case, no longer forms part of the
function. One cannot conclude from that withdrawal that
Parliament intended to or did convert an administrative function
into a judicial function.
Nevertheless, to categorise the function of the
magistrate as administrative or non-judicial is not to conclude
the issue. The headnote to The Administration of Papua New
Guinea v. Daera Guba (1973) 130 C.L.R. 353 at p.453, records
Menzies, Gibbs and Stephen JJ. as holding that:-
"The doctrine of estoppel extends to the decision of any
tribunal which has jurisdiction to decide finally a
question arising between parties, even if it is not
called a court, and its jurisdiction is derived from
statute or from the submission of parties, and it only
has temporary authority to decide a matter ad hoc: ..."
One of the issues considered in that case was whether or not
members of the Tubumaga Clan were estopped by a determination of
a Land Board with respect to the ownership of certain land which
they claimed. At p.453, Gibbs J., with whom Menzies and Stephen
JJ. in this respect agreed, said:-
"In other words, the present case is one of cause of
action estoppel, not issue estoppel. Secondly, much
attention was directed to authorities that deal with the
nature of judicial power, for example in relation to
Ch.III of the Constitution. In many of the authorities
that discuss this form of estoppel, it is said that the
estoppel is brought about by a judicial decision,
pronounced by a judicial tribunal. Thus in a recent
case, Carl Zeiss Stiftung v. Rayner & Keeler Ltd [No.2]
[1967] 1 A.C. 853, at p.933, Lord Guest said:
'The rule of estoppel by res judicata, which is
a rule of evidence, is that where a final decision
has been pronounced by a judicial tribunal of
11.
competent jurisdiction over the parties to and the
subject-matter of the litigation, any party or
privy to such litigation as against any other party
or privy is estopped in any subsequent litigation
from disputing or questioning such decision on the
merits (Spencer Bower on Res Judicata, p.3).'
The use of the phrase 'judicial tribunal' in this
context is convenient as indicating that an estoppel of
this kind does not result from a mere administrative
decision, but the question whether such an estoppel is
raised is not answered by inquiring to what extent the
tribunal exercises judicial functions, or whether its
status is judicial or administrative : see Caffoor v.
Commissioner of Income Tax, Colombo, per Lord Radcliffe
[1961] A.C. 584, at pp.597-599. A fairly obvious
example is the case of a court-martial, whose sentence
might in some circumstances be pleaded as an estoppel
(Hannaford v. Hunn (1825) 2 C.& P. 148 at p.155, [172
E.R. 68, at p.71], although not made in the exercise of
judicial power (cf. R. v. Bevan; Ex parte Elias and
Gordon (1942) 66 C.L.R. 452, at pp.466-468; R. v. Cox;
Ex parte Smith (1945) 71 C.L.R. 1, at p.23). The
doctrine of estoppel extends to the decision of any
tribunal which has jurisdiction to decide finally a
question arising between parties, even if it is not
called a court, and its jurisdiction is derived from
statute or from the submission of parties, and it only
has temporary authority to decide a matter ad hoc: see
Nalsbury's Laws of England, 3rd ed., vol. 15,
pp.212-214; Spencer Bower & Turner on Res Judicata, 2nd
ed. (1969), pp. 21-28. It will accordingly not be
necessary to canvass the authorities to which we were
referred, and which deal either with issue estoppel or
with the nature of judicial power."
See also Somodaj v. Iron and Steel Ltd (1961) 52 S.R.(NSW) 305,
aff on app (1963) 109 C.L.R. 285, and Pastras v. The Commonwealth
(1966) 9 FP.L.R. 152.
The decision of a magistrate under s.17 of the Act is
not final in the sense used by Gibbs J.. As I have pointed out,
such a decision does not determine rights or liabilities, it does
not convict or acquit, it is merely a step in an administrative
procedure and results in a custodial warrant or an order of
release. The function of a magistrate is not a final,
12.
determinative function such as that discussed in Daera Guba's
case and in Somodaj's case.
The authorities make that clear. In In re Gerhard (No.
3) (1901) 27 V.L.R. 655 Holroyd J. held, in a case where a person
had been discharged from one set of extradition proceedings and
had been brought back in a second set of proceedings for the same
offence, that the plea of autrefois acquit did not apply. As his
Honour said at p.664:-
"Gerhard could not have been legally tried for any
offence, and therefore could not have been acquitted, in
this country."
To the same effect is In Re Ley and Another (1883) S.A.L.R. 125,
the same view was taken. At p.128, Boucaut J. said:-
"when a warrant is issued in England, and by reason of
negligence of the prosecution a prisoner is discharged
on habeas, there is no doubt that a second warrant can
be issued. ..."
In Smith v. Collis (1910) 10 5.R.(NSW) 800, it was held that
where a person had been discharged on the ground that there was
no strong or probable presumption of the commission of the crime
charged, the matter could go again to a magistrate to commit "on
materially additional evidence". At pp.811-2, Cullen C.J.
referred to the like inquiry in a commitment for trial and said:-
"In such a case he is not acting judicially; 'he is only
an officer deputed by the law to enter into a
preliminary enquiry, and the law which casts upon him
that jurisdiciton presumes that he will do his duty in
enquiring whether the party ought to be committed or
not.' Cox v. Coleridge (1 B. & C. 51); Huddart Parker &
Co. Proprietary, Ltd. v. Morehead (8 C.L.R., 355-7). In
cases like the present he has not even arrived at that
stage ..."
13.
See also R. v. Governor of Brixton Prison [1912] 3 K.B. 424, Re
State of Wisconsin and Armstrong (1972), 8 C.C.C. (2d) 452 and
United States v. Ford and Frary 29 D.L.R. 80, in which Mathers
C.J.K.B. said at p.83:-
"Counsel for the accused relied upon two cases, Ex parte
Seitz (No.2), 3 Can. Cr. Cas. 127, and King v. Harsha
(Mo.2), 11 Can. Cr. Cas. 62. In the former it was held
that a fugitive who had been committed for extradition
and discharged upon habeas corpus because the committing
commissioner had acted without jurisdiction might be
legally re-arrested upon the same charge. In the Harsha
case the fugitive had been committed for extradition but
obtained his discharge upon habeas corpus because the
evidence against him ''would not have justified the
magistrate in committing the prisoner had the offence
been committed in this country.' It was held that such
discharge was no bar to his subsequent arrest for the
same offence. The language of Boyd, C., by whom the
judgment was delivered, is entirely opposed to the
contention of the accused that the plea of autrefois
acquit is open to them. He says, at p.65:-
"The doctrine of res judicata or former
jeopardy or of autrefois acquit is in each
particular quite inapplicable to this method of
preliminary inquiry.'
The question is settled against the contention of the
fugitives by Reg. v. Morton et al, 19 U.C.C.P. 9, where
it was held that a second arrest for the same cause upon
a new warrant after a discharge at the expiration of a
very full investigation was perfectly valid. Hagarty,
C.J., disposes of the objection by saying (p.14):-
'The failure of any one magistrate from mistake
or otherwise, to commit persons charged for
extradition, cannot, in my opinion, prevent the
action of another duly qualified officer from
entertaining the charge on the same or on fresh
materials.'
Wilson J., used language to the same effect. Referring
to the proceedings before the first magistrate, he said,
p.23:-
'Giving them their full weight, they are no bar
or answer to the case before us any more than the
dismissal of a charge by one magistrate would
preclude another from investigating the same
charge.'"
14.
Authors write to the same effect. See I.A. Shearer on
Extradition in International Law, (Manchester University Press)
at p.195, V.E. Hartley Booth on British Extradition and
Procedure, (Sijthoff & Noordhoff, Netherlands, 1980) at p.63,
Satya Devi Bedi on Extradition in International Law and Practice,
{Dennis & Co., New York, 1966) at pp.141-2, M.L. Friedland on
Double Jeopardy, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1969) at p.271 and
G.V. La Forest on Extradition To and From Canada, (Canada Law
Book, Toronto, 1977), 2nd Ed. at p.118.
Recent decisions, though not precisely on point, go in
the same direction. See In re Rees [1986] 1 A.C. 937 and Zoeller
v. Attorney-General and Ors (1987) 76 A.L.R. 267.
Mr Coombs relied, nevertheless, upon the reasons of Lord
Morris in Atkinson v. United States of America Government [1971]
A.C. 197 where his Lordship said at p.242:-
"If, as in the present case, some point of law is raised
and if by reason of a wrong ruling upon it a person is
released, is the foreign state powerless to ask the
court to correct the error? If the foreign state seeks
to start again, an application for a warrant for the
arrest of the released man would surely be met by the
answer that the competent court had given its decision.
Even ... if what is being looked for is some proceeding
having a final character or involving some final
determination, then the decision of the magistrate would
be a decision in such a proceeding. It would mark the
conclusion of the special and somewhat limited
extradition proceedings."
However, his Lordship was, on that point, dissenting. Lord Reid,
with whom Lord McDermott and Lord Upjohn agreed in this respect,
said, at p.235, that "... examining magistrates do not come to a
final decision."
15.
Mr Coombs submitted that the above principles do not
apply, for, he submitted, the Act is a code as to extradition and
do not expressly authorise the bringing of further proceedings
once extradition had been attempted and failed. Mr Coombs
referred to the remarks of Brennan J. in R. v. Bolton and Anor;
Ex parte Beane (1987) 70 A.L.R. 225 where his Honour said at
p.231:-
"The law of this country is very jealous of any
infringement of personal liberty (Cox v Hakes (1890) 15
App Cas 506 at 527) and a statute or statutory
instrument which purports to impair a right to personal
liberty is interpreted, if possible, so as to respect
that right: R v Cannon Row Police Station (Inspector)
(1921) 91 Ld (KB) 98 at 106."
Notwithstanding these considerations, the Act operates in a field
in which the general principles have long been established. It
would be wrong to construe the Act as giving to the decision of a
magistrate under 8.17 a finality which both the nature of the
decision and the long history of authority on the point show it
not to have.
It follows that the principles of res judicata or of
final determination do not operate upon the decision of release
given by the learned Magistrate on 27 April 1988 so as to
preclude the bringing of the current extradition proceedings.
Nor does any principle of issue estoppel apply in this
case. As was said in The Commonwealth of Australia v. Annunziata
Sciacca (unreported, delivered 31 March 1988) by Bowen C.J.,
Sheppard and Morling JJ. at p.9:-
16.
"A finding by an administrative tribunal will not give
tise to an issue estoppel. InW.J. & F. Barnes Pt
Limited v. Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1957) 96
CLR 254, Kitto J. sald (p.315) that a taxation board of
review's decision was not an adjudication; it was
administrative in character and could not create an
issue estoppel."
As their Honours there pointed out, an administrative body may
determine conclusively only such matters as are committed to it
for final decision. The principle discussed in Port Authority of
Melbourne v. Anshun Pty Ltd, cited above, whereby a final
judicial decision will conclusively decide both the issues upon
which the court pronounced and also other issues properly
belonging to the subject of the litigation is not a principle
which has application to non-judicial proceedings. As was said
by Jordan C.J. in Ex parte Amalgamated Engineering Union
{Australian Section): Re Jackson (1937) 38 S.R. (NSW) 13 at
p.19:-
"where, however, a special jurisdiction is conferred upon
a subordinate tribunal to decide some one particular
class of matter, the conferring of jurisdiction,
although it authorises the tribunal to decide any other
matters so far as may be necessary for the exercise of
the jurisdiction so conferred, is not regarded as
investing it with jurisdiction to decide those matters
between the parties conclusively and for all purposes.
Such matters are collateral to the matter as to which
jurisdiction is conferred."
In extradition proceedings, the magistrate is to forma
view as to whether or not he is satisfied that the person is
liable to be surrendered to the foreign State. If he is so
satisfied, he will issue a custodial warrant. If he is not so
satisfied he will order the release of the person. No matter
arising for his consideration is determined conclusively.
17.
Having regard to the above, I need not examine whether
extradition proceedings fall within the special rules as to issue
estoppel in criminal proceedings, as to which see R. v. Humphreys
[1977] A.C. 1, and R. v. Storey & Anor (1978) 140 C.L.R. 364.
Nor need I discuss the extent to which estoppel will operate
against a person who is performing a public or statutory duty, as
to which see Chamberlain v. Deputy Commissioner of Taxation,
cited above, and SCI Operations Pty Ltd & Anor v. Trade Practices
Commission & Ors, cited above, at 351.
For these reasons, the submissions put by Mr Coombs
fails. I accept the substance of the contentions put by Mr J.
Spigelman Q.C. with whom Mr A. Robertson of counsel appeared for
the respondent.
The application will therefore be dismissed with costs.
I certify that this and the 16
preceding pages are a true copy of
the Reasons for Judgment herein of
the Honourable Mr Justice Davies.
Associate: Qs .
Date: May' 1988
Counsel for the applicant: Mr J.S. Coombs Q.C. with
Mr I.A. Shearer
Solicitors for the applicant: Sly and Russell
Counsel for the respondent: Mr J. Spigelman Q.C. with
Mr A. Robertson
Solicitor for the respondent: Director of Public Prosecutions
Date of hearing: 18 May 1988