02.08.2022

Review of Published Judgments

ALRC Case Review

As part of its research for the Inquiry, the ALRC conducted a systematic review of judgments published by the Commonwealth courts between 1 January 2015 and 31 August 2021 referring to recusal and disqualification. The review was intended to identify references to both formal and informal processes for dealing with disqualification requests through:

  • published reasons dealing specifically with disqualification requests (formal or informal);
  • appeals referring to issues of disqualification being discussed in the court below; and
  • recitation of procedural history in cases referring to past recusals or requests for disqualification that may not have been reflected in formal published reasons.

The search terms used returned 879 judgments. After screening, 745 relevant judgments dealing with recusals, requests for recusal/disqualification, and appeals of decisions on disqualification were identified. These were reviewed and coded against defined categories.

For description and analysis of the findings and a summary of methodology see Chapter 5 and Appendix F of the Final Report.

Documentation and Data