The Federal Court of Australia as a Court of Criminal Appeal for the Australian Capital Territory (I)

From 1977 to 2002 the Federal Court of Australia functioned as a court of appeal for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in both civil and criminal matters. This is the first of a pair of articles documenting the history of the Federal Court’s role as a court of criminal appeal for the ACT. Together, the two articles comprise three parts. The first part contains background material on criminal appeals, the administration of justice in the ACT to 1977, and constitutional issues relating to Territory judicial power. The second deals with the operation of the Federal Court as a court of criminal appeal in principle and in practice. The third part documents the events leading to the establishment of the Australian Capital Territory Court of Appeal and the end of the Federal Court’s special role in the appeal system of the ACT.