High Court of Australia
all
assellv K
100) 110 Sime
66 C.L.RB.J
OF AUSTRALIA.
[HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.]
THE KING
AGAINST
BREWER.
Foll Cassell v R (2000) 169 ALR 439
Secret Commission—Agent—Person serving under the Crown—Person who has so yy. C. or A. served but is no longer serving—Secret Commissions Act 1905 (No. 10 of 1905),
gece, 2, 3,* 4.*
The definition of "agent" in sec. 3 of the Secret Commissions Act 1905 does not include a person who has served, but is no longer serving, under the
Crown.
Therefore the giving of a secret gift to such a person as a reward
for having aided to obtain a contract with the Crown is not an offence under
sec. 4 of the Act.
So held by Latham C.J. and McTiernan J. (Rich J. dissenting).
CASE STATED.
Upon the trial in the High Court of Mervyn MacPherson Brewer for an offence against the Commonwealth Secret Commissions Act ; 1905, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, whereupon the trial judge (Starke J.) reserved judgment and, pursuant to sec. 72 of the Judiciary Act 1903-1940, reserved certain questions of law for the consideration of the Full Court of the High Court.
The following statement of facts is substantially as it appears in
the case stated by his Honour.
*The Secret Commissions Act 1905 provides as follows :—Sec. 3: "In this Act—' Agent' includes any corporation, firm, or person employed by or acting or having been acting or desiring or intending to act for or on behalf of any other corporation, firm, or person, whether as agent, partner, factor, broker, servant, trustee, director, or in any other capacity, and whether he acts in the name of the principal or in any other name, and in the case of a firm includes a member of the
firm. It also includes a person serving under the Crown." Sec. 4: '"'(1) Any person who, without the full knowledge and consent of the principal, directly or indirectly (b) gives or agrees to give or offers to an agent of the principal any gift or considera- tion as an inducement or reward— 5 oo (tm) tir having aided to obtain for any person an agency or contract for or with the principal shall be guilty of an indictable offence."
We try to embed the page this law was scraped from. If the site blocks framing, you still get the link and a local excerpt.
Last checked with source on —
Checking whether the official page can be embedded…
Plain-English simplify of this law: a short summary, key points, and both sides of the argument. Generated on first view via Replicate, then cached. Vote on what helps your study.
No study brief is cached for this law yet. Sign up to generate a plain-English brief.
Sign up to generate