Contract - Compromise of action - Terms of settlement requiring simultaneous performance of mutual obligations - Accord and satisfaction - Accord plus conditional satisfaction - Accord executory.

Trust and trustees - Trust - Constructive - Knowing receipt of trust property - Recipient-liability under first limb of Barnes v Addy (1874) L.R. 9 Ch. App. 244 - Whether restitution-based - Whether based on knowledge of breach of trust - Whether actual or constructive knowledge - Whether proprietary interest precludes recipient-liability claim - Real property - Torrens system - Mortgage - Forged by director of mortgagor - Registration - Indefeasibility of title - In personam claim against mortgagee - Transfer of Land Act 1958 (No. 6399) ss. 42(1) 44(1).

Real property - Torrens system - Mortgage - Registration - Indefeasibility of title - Fraud by mortgagee - Statutory indemnity for loss of interest in land - Whether loss caused by claimant's neglect - Transfer of Land Act 1958 (No. 6399) ss. 42(1) 44(1) 109(2) 110.

Personal property - Shares - Equitable mortgage - Lien - Priorities - Legal interest and subsequent equitable interest - Competing equities - Whether proprietary interest precludes recipient-liability claim.

Banks and banking - Cheque - Negligence by bank - Deposit of proceeds resulting from breach of trust.

Companies - Powers - Assumptions of person dealing with company - Statutory assumptions - Whether excluded - "Connection or relationship" with company - Knowledge that dealings contrary to statutory assumptions - Fraud or forgery - Whether actual knowledge required to exclude assumptions - Corporations Law ss. 164 166.

Real property - Torrens system - Mortgage - Registration - Indefeasibility of title - Fraud - Forgery of mortgage - Constructive notice of forgery to mortgagee - Whether recklessness or wilful blindness by mortgagee - In personam remedy of mortgagor against mortgagee - Principle in Barclay's Bank Plc. v O'Brien [1994] 1 A.C. 180 - Constructive notice of forgery and unconscionable conduct by mortgagee - Whether right created in mortgagor - Whether applicable only to priorities of competing rights - Trusts and trustees - Principle under first limb of Barnes v Addy (1874) L.R. 9 Ch. App. 244 - Knowing receipt of trust property - Whether in personam right defeats indefeasibility of title - Transfer of Land Act 1958 (No. 6399) ss. 42 43 44.

Companies - Knowledge - Fraud - Whether fraud may be imputed to company by aggregating knowledge of officers and agents.

Constitutional law - Parliament - Legislative Council - Supreme Court - Jurisdiction - Court of disputed returns - Application for declaration that seat of member of Legislative Council had become vacant - Whether Supreme Court had jurisdiction - Constitution Act 1975 (No. 8750) ss. 19 55 85 - Constitution Act Amendment Act 1958 (No. 6224) s. 300.

Criminal law - Tax evasion - Sentencing - Exceptional mitigatory factors - Assistance to authorities - Whether offender personally enriched - Whether sentence should include period actually to be served - Appeal - Crown appeal - Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) ss. 20(1)(b) 21E 29D.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Theft - Obtaining property by deception - Early plea of guilty - Co-operation with authorities - Effect on sentencing disposition.

Criminal law - Theft - Stealing - Larceny - Fraudulent misappropriation - Fraudulent conversion - Whether stealing, fraudulent misappropriation and fraudulent conversion are mutually exclusive - Relevance of possession or custody of property appropriated - Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) s. 71(1) - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) s. 450A.

Criminal law - National Crime Authority - Notice referring matter for investigation - Determination of matter referred for investigation - Whether by reference only to notice - Whether by reference to extrinsic materials - Hearing by authority for purposes of investigation - Whether lawfulness of hearing depends on state of mind of members of authority - Statement by witness at unlawful hearing - Whether statement involuntary - Whether statement admissible at subsequent trial - Procedure - Reference to Court of Appeal - Whether points of law arose at trial - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) ss. 391 450A - National Crime Authority Act 1984 (Cth) ss. 13 14 25 28 - Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) ss. 15AB 46.

Industrial law - Strike - Right to strike - Trade union - Common law liability for strike action - Protection from liability under Commonwealth legislation - Notice required to obtain protection - Failure to give notice - Acting in concert with other unions which failed to give notice - Secondary boycott - Injunctions - Interlocutory - Injunction to restrain strike - Whether right to strike a relevant consideration - Whether alternative remedy a relevant consideration - Balance of convenience - Stop order obtained in Australian Industrial Relations Commission - Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) ss. 127 166A 170MD 170MI 170ML 170MM 170MO 170MT 170NC.

Accident compensation - Transport accident - Limitation of actions - Application for review of decision of Transport Accident Commission - Extension of time within which to bring application - Transport Accident Act 1986 (No. 111) ss. 77 83 - Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1984 (No. 10155) s. 31.

Negligence - Occupier's liability - Duty of care - Breach - Mountain cattlemen's get-together - Watering horse by river - Failure to erect signs notifying safe place to water - Failure to provide tanks or troughs for watering - Causation - Contract - Implied term - Wrongs Act 1958 (No. 6420) Pt IIA.

Motor vehicles - Breath test and blood alcohol - Blood alcohol content exceeding 0.05% - Evidence - Blood sample taken more than three hours after driving - Certificates of blood sample - Whether admissible - Presumption of continuance - Road Safety Act 1986 (No. 127) ss. 47 48(1) 48(1A) 49(1)(b) 49(1)(g) 57.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Drug offences - Cumulation - Totality - Procedural fairness - Sentencing Act 1991 (No. 49) ss. 5(1) 6E 16 26 31 33.

Criminal law - Procedure - Reference to Court of Appeal - Whether reference may be withdrawn - Whether leave required - Manslaughter - Negligently causing serious injury - Corporation - Rules of attribution - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) ss. 24 450A.

Accident compensation - Transport accident - Meaning of "serious injury" - Whether injury must be "very considerable" - Significance of inability to pursue former occupation - Transport Accident Act 1986 (No. 111) s. 93(4) 93(6) 93(17).

Banks and banking - Bank guarantee - Performance bond - Conflict of laws - Proper law - Guarantee issued in Victoria - Securing performance of contract in India - Payments to be made in the Czech Republic - Injunction - Interlocutory - To restrain demand and payment under guarantee - Whether serious question to be tried - Whether clear case of fraud - Trade practices - Trade or commerce between Australia and place outside Australia - Equity - Unconscionable conduct - Insistence on strict legal rights - Injunctive relief - Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) ss. 6(2) 51AA 80 87.

Negligence - Occupier's liability - Causation - Slipping on spillage in supermarket - Plaintiff's failure to establish precisely when spillage occurred - Whether fatal to plaintiff's claim when breach of duty of care established - Wrongs Act 1958 (No. 6420) s. 14B.

Practice and procedure - Discovery - Pre-action discovery - Voth test of clearly inappropriate forum - Whether applicable to proposed action in application for pre-action discovery - Cross-vesting legislation - Possibility of transfer of proposed action pursuant to cross-vesting legislation - Whether ground for refusing pre-action discovery - Supreme Court Rules Ch. I r. 32.05 - Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-Vesting) Act 1987 (Cth) ss. 4 5 9 - Service and Execution of Process Act 1992 (Cth) s. 20.

Courts and judges - State Supreme Courts - Jurisdiction - Foreign land - Moccedilambique principle - Voth test of clearly inappropriate forum - Whether applicable to suits among residents of the Commonwealth - Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-Vesting) Act 1987 (Cth) ss. 4 5 9 - Service and Execution of Process Act 1992 (Cth) s. 20.

Companies - Shares - Acquisition - Shareholder entitled to between 20% and 90% of voting shares - Statutory prohibition on further purchases - Exception for purchase of up to 3% of voting shares over six months - Associate - Whether vendor of original shareholding an associate of purchaser - Whether purchaser proposed to acquire shares - Meaning of "proposes" - Shareholder selling and buying shares simultaneously - False or misleading appearance of active trading - False or misleading statement having effect of maintaining or stabilising the market price of shares - Request by Stock Exchange for information - Answered by company chairman - Chairman also a director of shareholder buying and selling shares - Whether shareholder's knowledge imputed to company - Securities Industry (Victoria) Code ss. 124 125 - Companies (Acquisition of Shares) (Victoria) Code ss. 7(3) 7(4)(b) 11(2) 15.

Contract - Formation - Offer and acceptance - Evidence - Admissibility - Evidence of normal rather than invariable practice - Whether admissible to prove practice complied with - Inference - Estoppel - Representation by silence - Limitation of actions - Practice and procedure - Joinder - Substitution of plaintiff - Substitution outside limitation period - Whether proceeding statute-barred - Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (No. 6295) - County Court Rules Ch. I rr. 9.06 9.09.

Defamation - Libel - Justification - Imputations - Polly Peck plea - Whether meanings alleged by the defendant capable of being conveyed - Practice and procedure - Interrogatories - Seeking particulars of special damages.

Criminal law - Drug offences - Importation of heroin - Evidence - Record of police interview - Admissibility - Application for extension of investigation period - Non-compliance with statutory requirements - Whether deliberate or reckless - Whether public interest ground for exclusion of evidence - Sentence - Whether manifestly excessive - Whether allowance for co-operation with authorities - Customs Act (Cth) s. 233B - Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) ss. 23C 23D 23E.

Criminal law - Sexual offences - Evidence - Credit - Prior inconsistent statement - Motive of complainant in making allegations - Cross-examination of complainant - Whether questions only went to credit - Whether defence entitled to adduce evidence contradicting complainant's answers - Record of police interview - Tendered by police - Statement by accused in record of interview - Whether evidence of facts alleged in statement - Verdict - Whether unsafe and unsatisfactory - Evidence Act 1958 (No. 6246) s. 35.

Administration and probate - Wills and codicils - Validity of will - Hand-written will - Suspicious circumstances - Delay in producing will - Onus of proof - Interested witnesses - Failure to dispel suspicious circumstances - Whether re-trial should be ordered.

Criminal law - Drug offences - Trafficking - Evidence - Admissibility - Entrapment - Undercover operation - Immunity for police acting pursuant to instructions - Instructions given in writing in relation to a particular case - Sufficiency of instructions - Procedure - Presentment - Duplicity - Uncertainty - Count alleging trafficking as a continuous offence - Alternative counts alleging specific instances of trafficking - Meaning of "trafficking" - Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (No. 9719) ss. 51 70.

Criminal law - Sexual offences - Incest - Gross indecency - Inflammatory address by prosecutor - Prosecutor inviting jury to convict on the basis of the accused's bad character - No correction by trial judge until end of charge - Whether miscarriage of justice - Evidence - Admissibility - Propensity evidence - Lies by accused - Complaint - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) ss. 50 52 568(1).

Criminal law - Sexual offences - Indecent assault - Incest - Evidence - Complaint - Whether complainant's evidence of complaint should be admitted where no evidence led from recipient of complaint - Whether prosecution should call recipient of complaint - Whether defence should call recipient of complaint - Evidence in support of complainant's evidence - Longman warning - Propensity warning - Inconsistent verdicts - Alibi evidence - Sentence - Sentence exceeding sentence imposed at earlier trial - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) ss. 61 399A.

Criminal law - Rape - Evidence - Complaint - Principles applicable to the admission of complaint evidence - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) s. 568(1).

Criminal law - Rape - Longman warning - Complaint - Delay - Kilby direction - Lies by accused - Edwards direction - Complainant's motive - Cross-examination of accused on complainant's motive - Whether jury should be invited to consider whether complainant had motive to lie.

Criminal law - Extradition - Transfer of prisoners - Parole order revoked - Whether harsh or oppressive - Procedure - Appeal - Appeal from order of Supreme Court judge confirming transfer order by magistrate - Whether leave to appeal required - Whether liberty of the subject concerned - Prisoners (Interstate Transfer) Act 1983 (No. 9881) ss. 15 16 25 - Supreme Court Act 1986 (No. 110) s. 17A(4)(b)(i).

Criminal law - Sentencing - Cumulation - Non-parole period - Suspended sentence - Breach - Restored term of suspended sentence - Whether restored term should be served cumulatively on term for breaching offence - Non-parole period and suspended sentence - Whether non-parole period may be set when suspended sentence passed - Whether non-parole period may be set when suspended sentence restored - Sentencing Act 1991 (No. 49) ss. 11 14 15 27 31.

Criminal law - Sexual offences - Rape - Incest - Inconsistency of verdicts - Evidence - Lies by accused - Edwards direction - Evidence of uncharged acts - Whether admissible - Longman direction - Appeal - Unsafe or unsatisfactory verdict ground of appeal.

Criminal law - Murder - Attempted murder - Whether attempted murder a true alternative count - Evidence - Circumstantial evidence - Hypothesis consistent with accused's innocence - Whether open to jury to exclude - Significance of accused's failure to give evidence - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) ss. 321N(3) 421(d).

Defamation - Libel - Fair comment - Practice and pleading - "Rolled-up plea" - Particulars - Whether plaintiff entitled to particulars of facts and comment - Qualified privilege - Discussion of government or political matter.

Criminal law - Sentencing - Attempted bribery of police - Non-parole period - Failure by sentencing judge to consider fixing non-parole period - Whether failure to fix non-parole period vitiates head sentence - Sentencing Act 1991 (No. 49) s. 11.

Criminal law - Theft - Dishonestly appropriating property - Unauthorised making of telephone calls - Whether theft - Meaning of "property" - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) ss. 71 72.

Discrimination - Equal opportunity - Intellectual disability services - Complaint in Anti-Discrimination Tribunal alleging discrimination - Reference by tribunal to Equal Opportunity Commission of matter for investigation - Appeal - Whether appeal lies from decision to refer matter for investigation - Meaning of "proceedings" - Meaning of "in relation to" - Questions for determination by tribunal in considering reference - Onus of proof - Whether tribunal must consider statutory exemption - Meaning of "designed" - Objective or subjective test - Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (No. 42) ss. 4 8 12 42 82(1) 150(1) 156 157.

Criminal law - Murder - Concert to kill - Evidence - Lies by accused - Whether evidence of consciousness of guilt - Failure of accused to give evidence - Whether excluded hypothesis consistent with innocence - Whether verdict unsafe and unsatisfactory - Whether re-trial should be ordered on charge of manslaughter - Whether lesser verdict should be substituted - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) ss. 325 421 568(2) 569(2).

Evidence - Admissibility - Documents - Documents produced by computer - Financial records - Books of account - Whether computer used "regularly to store information" - Whether entry made in "the usual and ordinary course" of business - Whether computer operated properly - Whether persons who supplied information should be called as witnesses - Failure to call persons in charge of computer system - Evidence Act 1958 (No. 6246) ss. 55 55B Div. 3A - Supreme Court Rules Ch. I. r. 40.05.

Building contracts - Banks and banking - Irrevocable standby letters of credit - Securing performance under contract - Whether recourse to security available before determination of liability under contract - Whether recourse available before damages under contract properly quantified - Injunction - Interlocutory - To restrain recourse to security - Appeal - Fresh evidence - Whether admissible - Supreme Court Rules Ch. I r. 64.22(3).

Accident compensation - Transport accident - Leave to bring common law proceedings - Serious injury - Meaning of "serious" - Guidance of "very considerable" test - Severe long-term mental or severe long-term behavioural disturbance or disorder - Meaning of "severe" - Whether stronger than "serious" - Appeal - Principles applicable to appeal from determination regarding serious injury - Whether same principles as for appeals from discretionary judgments - Fresh evidence - Whether admissible - Transport Accident Act 1986 (No. 111) s. 93(4) 93(17) - Supreme Court Rules Ch. I r. 64.22(3).

Criminal law - Murder - Armed robbery - Alternative basis of guilt not part of prosecution case - Direction to jury on alternative basis of guilt - Whether miscarriage of justice - Separate trials - Similar fact evidence - Whether judge should have ordered separate trials of robbery and murder counts - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) s. 372(3).

Criminal law - Sexual offences - Evidence - Propensity - Several offences involving different complainants - Single trial - Direction to jury on propensity - Need for clear, strong and careful directions - Re-trial - Procedure - Change in relevant law - Whether accused deprived of benefit of pre-existing law at re-trial - Crimes Act 1958 (No. 6231) ss. 372 398A 587 588 - Crimes (Amendment) Act 1997 (No. 81).

Companies - Winding up - Preferential claim - Limitation of actions - Whether time runs from filing of notice of motion to wind up - Companies (Victoria) Code s. 451 - Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) ss. 122 127(5).