Skelton v Jones [1961] HCA 83

High Court of Australia Dixon C.J. Kitto and Owen JJ. Skelton v Jones [1961] HCA 83

ORDER Special leave refused with costs.

Cur. adv. vult.

The Court delivered the following written judgment:—

Dec. 8 Dixon C.J., Kitto and Owen JJ.

This application is for special leave to appeal from an order made by the Full Court of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The order was made under s. 5 of an Order of Her Majesty in Council dated 2nd April 1909. The Order in Council governs the right of appeal and the procedure for appealing from the Supreme Court of New South Wales to the Privy Council. The defendant in an action in the Supreme Court applies to this Court for special leave to appeal from the order, which gave the plaintiff conditional leave to appeal to the Privy Council from an order of the Full Court of the Supreme Court allowing an appeal from a verdict for the plaintiff. The action was an action for libel which was tried in the Supreme Court and the verdict which the plaintiff obtained at the trial was for £500 damages. The Full Court of the Supreme Court set aside the verdict and entered judgment for the defendant. Section 2 (a) of the Order in Council provides that, subject to the provisions of the Rules, an appeal shall lie as of right from any final judgment of the Supreme Court where the matter in dispute on the appeal amounts to or is of the value of £500 sterling or upwards or where the appeal involves directly or indirectly some claim or question to or respecting property or some civil right amounting to or of the value of £500 sterling or upwards. The word "sterling" in an Order in Council made in 1909 did not necessarily mean to distinguish between Australian money and money of the United Kingdom, and the majority of the judges in the Full Court, Evatt C.J. and Wallace J., Ferguson J. dissenting, held that the verdict for £500, notwithstanding that it was of course expressed in Australian money of account, satisfied the condition of s. 2 (a) of the Order in Council. We are asked to give special leave to appeal on the ground that the decision is erroneous.