LEGGETT V. THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 46/1936

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALI

Hb/ tay,

Conrnarescatthe-

of Machalia

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT.

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7 VT

HL. J. Gnecn, Government Printer, Melbourne. e100,

LEGGETT - THE COMMONWE ALTH

JUDGMENT McTIERNAN Z.

The pleadings in this action raised the question & am law whether a member of the Permanent Naval Forces has any right of action against the Commonwealth for injuries sustained on duty and whether the facts and the matters disclosed in the statement of claim gave the plaintiff any right in law to sue for damages. This question was argued before the rull Court. The Full Court was of opinion that the question as it stood upon the pleddingé was in a wide and general, if not an indefinite form, and,upon an invest- igation of the facts, it might well appear as a pa ticular wae specific question or turm out not to arise at all.

The Full Court was, therefore, of opinion that the issues of fact should be tried before tke questions of law arising upon the pleadings were determined, and, purswnt to Order XXIV Rule 5 of the High Court Rules, directed that the

suit proceed to trial.

Upon the admissions in the pleadings and the evidence given at tle trial, I make the following findings of fact. At the time of the accident,in respect of which the plaintiff sued, and for many years previously, the plaintiff was a member of the dockyard police and as such a member of tle Permanent Naval Forves of tte Commonwealth. He has done duty as a member of tte dockyard police at Spectacle Island for as long a period as twenty years prior to the accident, and he was then of tle rank of sergeant. Spectacle Island, which I visited in the. course of tle trial with counsel for the parties in order to view the scene of the accident, is' owned and controlled by the Commonwealth. It is a small island in Sydney Harbour used for storing naval requirements, including parts of naval ordnance and other munitions. The premises are not open to the public, Persons visiting the