Australian Courts of Appeal (5 November 2026)

Send us Fan Mail Seven headnoted appellate decisions from the Courts of Appeal of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia and the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in the edition of Thursday 5 November 2026, with the New South Wales and Western Australia editions of the same day folded in. A costs certificate after an acquittal and a court whose power was spent; an exclusive right to negotiate that bound nobody; a cattle stud in the wrong court; three sentencing appeals; who instructs a liquidator's solicitors; a victim's earlier award and an offender's compensation order; and a judge alone's findings nobody put, with a retrial ordered. Sexual offence matters are reported as legal doctrine only. Practice and Procedure Desk (opening story). Singh v District Court of New South Wales [2026] NSWCCA 180 - refusal of a certificate under s 2 Costs in Criminal Cases Act 1967 (NSW) after a trial on indictment is an interlocutory order appellable by leave under s 5F(3)(a) Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), so judicial review under s 69 Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) is ordinarily declined, with costs for maintaining it; grounds must identify error; no unfairness for want of an interpreter where the represented applicant was bound by counsel's choices and the judge was not on notice; once perfected the order could not be reopened (functus officio; the slip rule is civil only; revised ex tempore reasons are not a re-exercise of power). Summons dismissed with costs; leave on grounds 1 to 4; appeal dismissed (Ward ACJ, Stern JA, Price AJA; also New South Wales edition). JADE Commercial Law Desk . Cranbrook Group Pty Ltd v Milstern Retirement Services Pty Limited [2026] NSWSC 1369 - a bare promise to negotiate exclusively, in an offer declaring itself non-binding, is unenforceable for uncertainty absent an external standard, a third-party mechanism or a fixed body of contractual rights; no implied good faith beyond honesty; alternatively the obligation ran only for the 60-day exchange period, and was terminable; loss of a chance is compensable in damages, so no injunction or specific performance; no conventional estoppel. Claims for relief dismissed with costs (Peden J; New South Wales edition). JADE Public Law Desk . Lily & Dong Cattle Stud Pty Ltd v Minister of the Department for Energy and Mining [2026] SASCA 138 - s 28 Environment, Resources and Development Court Act 1993 (SA) confers a power to grant declarations within existing jurisdiction, not jurisdiction; public law challenges to the grant or transfer of a mining tenement belong in the Supreme Court; relief under s 9AA(9) Mining Act 1971 (SA) is a private remedy between landowner and tenement holder after statutory notice; exempt status does not invalidate a tenement; a self-represented company is bound by the case it ran below. Appeal dismissed with costs (Livesey P, S Doyle JA, Brown AJA). JADE Criminal Law Desk (three sentencing appeals). DPP v Caithness [2026] VSCA 259 - Crown appeal: a sentence for dangerous driving causing death after short inattention was lenient but not manifestly inadequate; the duty to stop and render assistance under s 61 Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) applies regardless of fault or unusual circumstances, and that sentence, the total effective sentence and the non-parole period were manifestly inadequate; absent a specific representation, no assumption that no Crown appeal will be brought within time. Appeal allowed; resentenced (Kennedy and Taylor JJA, Gorton AJA). JADE SPG v The State of Western Australia [2026] WASCA 155 - implied error is