Supreme Court of New South Wales

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the superior court in the state. Find out more at www.supremecourt.nsw.gov.au

This is the official page of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The Supreme Court of New South Wales administers this page to post links to Supreme Court of New South Wales judgments, judgment summaries, media releases, events, legislation and other legal and justice sector matters. The purpose of the page is to educate the community about the work of the Court and about the l

egal system generally. Anyone who interacts with this page is required to follow the Terms of Use set out in Notes. Any interaction violating the Terms of Use will be handled according to the Terms of Use. This is a pilot page only and may be removed if the organisation sees fit.

Vale the Hon. Kenneth Handley AO CStJ KC. It is with considerable sadness that the Court announces the death on Saturday...
20/07/2026

Vale the Hon. Kenneth Handley AO CStJ KC. It is with considerable sadness that the Court announces the death on Saturday of the Hon. Kenneth (Ken) Handley AO CStJ KC. He was 90 years old. View the notice here:https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/documents/media/20260720-Handley-Vale.pdf

Portrait by Robert Hannaford AM, 2004.

06/07/2026

On this day in 1987, Jane Mathews became the first woman to be appointed to the Bench of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, 66 years after Ada Evans became the first woman admitted to practise law in NSW.

Born and raised in Wollongong, Jane studied law at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1962. After working for several years at Allen, Allen & Hemsley, she was called to the Bar in 1969 where she primarily did legal aid work and criminal cases.

Jane was also the first woman appointed to full judicial office in New South Wales. She served as a District Court judge from 1980 to 1987 before her appointment to the Supreme Court of New South Wales. With no female colleagues on the District Court, she also spent almost 7 years as the state's only female Supreme Court judge. During this period, she also held concurrent appointments as a Part-Time Commissioner of the NSW Law Reform Commission (1984–1989) and as Senior Judicial Member and head of the NSW Equal Opportunity Commission (1985–1987).

In 1994, Jane was appointed to the Federal Court and assumed the Presidency of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and Deputy Presidency of the Native Title Tribunal (1994-1999). She was also Deputy Chancellor of the University of New South Wales between 1992 and 1999, but throughout her career has maintained close ties with other universities.

In recognition of her outstanding service to the law and the judiciary, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2005. Two years later, she became Patron of the Women Lawyers Association of New South Wales.

In 2018, Sydney artist Rocco Fazzari was commissioned by the Law Society of NSW, Allen & Overy, MinterEllison and Ashurst to create a portrait of Jane Mathews to celebrate the 100 Years of Women in Law gala.

Jane Mathews passed away on 31 August 2019.

In 2024, a reproduction of the portrait was commissioned to mark the bicentenary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The Governor of New South Wales, Margaret Beazley, and Chief Justice Andrew Bell opened the Supreme Court Gallery on level 13 of the Law Courts building. The portrait of Jane Mathews hangs at the centre of the gallery surrounded the by women judges who followed in her footsteps.

This morning Chief Justice Andrew Bell AC delivered the keynote address at the Local Court of New South Wales Annual Con...
01/07/2026

This morning Chief Justice Andrew Bell AC delivered the keynote address at the Local Court of New South Wales Annual Conference. In a speech entitled “What’s in a Name?”, the Chief Justice observed that the recent change of name from magistrate to judge reflected the seriousness and the volume of work done in the Local Court. In 2025 approximately 520,000 proceedings were commenced in the Local Court, whose approximately 160 judges now make more than 90 percent of judicial decisions in NSW.

“I would defy any commentator who sets out to promote, as a popular perception, that judges are out of touch with the community and not hard working … to observe the work each of you does, day in and day out. One simply cannot sit through the number and types of cases which are the staple of our courts in New South Wales (and none more so than the Local Court) and be out of touch with the problems and struggles of people in the community in terms of crime, financial despair, family breakdown and violence, drug dependency, Indigenous dislocation and mental health.”

Read the speech here:https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/documents/Publications/Speeches/2026-speeches/CJ-20260701.pdf

Save the date: The inaugural Sugerman Lecture will be held at 5pm, 3 September 2026 in the Banco Court. The lecture will...
29/06/2026

Save the date: The inaugural Sugerman Lecture will be held at 5pm, 3 September 2026 in the Banco Court. The lecture will be delivered by the Hon. Stephen Gageler AC, Chief Justice of Australia, to mark Vol 100 of the Australian Law Journal.

On this day in 1974 Sir Laurence Whistler Street was appointed as the fourteenth Chief Justice of New South Wales. Three...
27/06/2026

On this day in 1974 Sir Laurence Whistler Street was appointed as the fourteenth Chief Justice of New South Wales. Three generations of the Street family occupied the position of Chief Justice of NSW during the twentieth century. Sir Laurence Street's distinguished career began as a legal practitioner, specialising in equity, commercial law and admiralty. On 29 November 1965 he was appointed to the Supreme Court and established a reputation as a dynamic equity and commercial judge. In 1972, he became a Judge of Appeal and Chief Judge in Equity. He was appointed Chief Justice of NSW following the resignation of Sir John Kerr, and on 1 February 1977 he led a procession of justices to formally occupy the new Joint Law Courts Building in Queens Square, Sydney. One of Sir Laurence's greatest achievements as Chief Justice was his staunch defence of judicial independence during the establishment of the Judicial Commission in late 1986. After his retirement on 1 November 1988 he played an instrumental role in the development of alternative dispute resolution.

Learn more here: https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/about-us/supreme-court-history/chief-justices-of-new-south-wales/the-hon--sir-laurence-whistler-street.html

Is an arm a ‘body’? Not according to Justice Halse Rogers of the Supreme Court who, on this day in 1935, restrained the ...
23/06/2026

Is an arm a ‘body’? Not according to Justice Halse Rogers of the Supreme Court who, on this day in 1935, restrained the Sydney coroner from proceeding with an inquest into the alleged death of James Smith. The order was made on the application of Patrick Brady, who had been charged with the murder of Smith. His Honour ruled that authority for a coronial inquest came from the viewing of body, and according to the ordinary meaning of the words, an arm was not a proper basis for a coronial inquest.
It was a dramatic twist in the ‘Shark Arm Murder’, one of the more famous criminal cases prosecuted in the Supreme Court in the twentieth century. On Anzac Day 1935, a 4m tiger shark exhibited at the Coogee Aquarium regurgitated a human arm. Examination revealed the arm had been dismembered and the shark had later ingested it, leading to a homicide investigation. The arm featured a distinctive tattoo of two men boxing. The tattoo was the key to identifying who the arm belonged to, James Smith, a bankrupt builder and amateur boxer, who had been missing for several weeks. The case was brough to the Supreme Court when Smith’s best friend was charged with murder. He was, nevertheless, acquitted and the murder remains unsolved.

Learn more about this and other fascinating cases heard by the Supreme Court by visiting the Supreme Court History Wall online: https://www.supremecourt.gallery/history-wall or in person: https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/about-us/visits.html

Judgment Just In: Racing NSW v Australian Turf Club Ltd [2026] NSWCA 115The Court of Appeal has granted leave to appeal,...
19/06/2026

Judgment Just In: Racing NSW v Australian Turf Club Ltd [2026] NSWCA 115

The Court of Appeal has granted leave to appeal, and upheld an appeal, brought by Racing New South Wales (RNSW) against the decision of the primary judge declaring that RNSW’s appointment of an administrator to the Australian Turf Club Ltd was invalid and of no effect. The Court addressed the validity of the appointment in the very specific factual context before it and held that it was neither necessary nor appropriate to seek to detail the precise metes and bounds of the power of RNSW to appoint an administrator in other cases. The Court held that the power to appoint the administrator was authorised by the Thoroughbred Racing Act 1996 (NSW). The decision canvasses a number of issues of principle concerning the construction of RNSW’s functions and powers under the Act, RNSW’s treatment of a report prepared by KordaMentha, and how the power to appoint an administrator under the Act sits within broader State and Commonwealth statutory contexts.

Read the judgment here: https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19ed3dcd6bd31d8acf65ba5a

Summary:https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/asset/19edd4917cf5827d83aaff38.pdf

The Honourable Justice Kate Richardson was sworn in this morning as a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Att...
03/06/2026

The Honourable Justice Kate Richardson was sworn in this morning as a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Attorney General Michael Daley and the President of The Law Society of NSW, Mr Ronan MacSweeney, congratulated her Honour on her appointment.

Address

Sydney, NSW

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Supreme Court of New South Wales posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Supreme Court of New South Wales:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category