Minahan v Baldock [1951] HCA 27

High Court of Australia Dixon, McTiernan, Webb and Kitto JJ. Minahan v Baldock [1951] HCA 27

ORDER Appeal allowed. Order of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory discharged. In lieu thereof, order absolute for a writ of prohibition directed to the Licensing Court of the Northern Territory and the licensing magistrate constituting the court prohibiting the Licensing Court and the licensing magistrate from proceeding in the application of the respondent for a publican's licence in respect of proposed premises at Alice Springs and made in purported pursuance of a deposit of plans with the clerk of the Licensing Court at a sittings at Darwin on 20th March 1951 and of a notice of such deposit which application was called on for hearing at a sittings of the Licensing Court at Alice Springs on 4th April 1951. No order as to the costs of this appeal or of the application to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.

Cur. adv. vult.

The Court delivered the following written judgment:—

June 1 Dixon, McTiernan, Webb and Kitto JJ.

This is an appeal against an order of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory by leave under s. 21 of the Supreme Court Ordinance 1911-1936. The order from which the appeal is brought discharged an order nisi for a prohibition directed to the special magistrate constituting the Licensing Court of the Northern Territory. The purpose of the prohibition sought was to restrain the Licensing Court from proceeding further upon an application made by Baldock, who is the respondent to this appeal, for a publican's licence at Alice Springs. The application was one of which the hearing was commenced at Alice Springs on 4th April 1951 in pursuance of a notice given and a deposit of plans made at Darwin on 20th March 1951. The appellant too made an application for a licence at Alice Springs and, in addition, attempted to appear before the Licensing Court as an objector to the application of the respondent Baldock. She was not heard because she had not given notice of objection. The ground upon which she seeks a prohibition is that under the law of the Northern Territory it is a condition precedent to the making of an application for a publican's licence that the applicant shall deposit the necessary plans with the clerk of the Licensing Court at the last previous sittings of the court at the place of intended application and at the same time give him a duplicate notice of the application and thereafter within twenty-one days publish the notice in the Gazette and until the next sittings of the court exhibit the notice on the premises. It was not at Alice Springs but at Darwin that the notice was given and the plans deposited by the respondent Baldock. It was done at sittings of the Licensing Court duly held there and the deposit was made with, and the notice was given to, the clerk for the licensing district in which Darwin is situated.