The Overthrow of Attorney-General v. Gill: Cooney v. Ku-Ring-Gai Municipal Council

Extract

The refusal of the High Court in Cooney v. Ku-ring-gai Municipal Council to follow Attorney-General (ex rei. Lumley) v. T. S. Gill & Son Ply Ltd should be received enthusiastically by public lawyers and others who consider that individuals should be restrained from breaking the law if their activities operate to the disadvantage of members of the public living in the vicinity. The long reign of Attorney-General v. Gill has ended. In Gill’s case in 1927 the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria declined to grant the Victorian Attorney-General an injunction to restrain the defendant from continuing with the erection of a factory on land situated in a residential area contrary to a by-law of the City of Prahran. The Attorney-General had sought the injunction on the relation of Lumley, a ratepayer of the municipality, who alleged he was injuriously affected by the defendant’s acts which, according to the allegation, also amounted to an invasion of the rights of the ratepayers generally and of the public. The municipality had made no attempt to enforce its own by-law although an offence against the by-law could be punished by fines and continuing penalties.