Author adminPosted on Categories civil litigation, Judiciary 1 Comment on High Court elects to hear Judge Vasta judicial immunity case
In 2021, Judge Vasta was sued for false imprisonment after he jailed a litigant for contempt when no such finding against him had been made. For Judge Vasta and the state of Queensland, it was contended that the doctrine of judicial immunity meant that the claim could not succeed.
Last year, Wigney J of the Federal Court found for the imprisoned man, holding that judicial immunity did not apply for a number of reasons, including that Judge Vasta was an inferior Court judge who had acted beyond jurisdiction. Unsurprisingly, an appeal was subsequently lodged.
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Author adminPosted on Categories Judiciary 3 Comments on When is a Judge disqualified for bias?
A decision-maker being impartial is one of the core requirements of natural justice.
In the 19th century, Lord Campbell in Dimes [1852] EngR 789 said that “no man is to be a judge in his own cause”.
As a majority of the High Court noted in Ebner v The Official Trustee in Bankruptcy [2000] HCA 63:
“Fundamental to the common law system of adversarial trial is that it is conducted by an independent and impartial tribunal. Perhaps the deepest historical roots of this principle can be traced to Magna Carta (with its declaration that right and justice shall not be sold)”.
