Supreme Court Extension Of Period For Divorce Appeal Refused
An application by Thomas Irons Fish for an order extending the time within which he could appeal against a Supreme Court order on December 15 granting a decree nisi in divorce in favour of his wife, Betty Alice Ann Fish, has been dismissed by Mr Justice Macarihur. In a reserved decision given yesterday his Honour said consideration of the case had further confirmed bis earlier views that section 58 of the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act gave a right of appeal within six weeks after the pronouncing of the decision, and only within that period of six weeks.
When the application was heard last Monday Mr P. T. Mahon appeared ' for Fish. Mr B. J. Drake appeared for Mrs Fish.
In his decision his Honour said it had been stated on behalf of the respondent that notice of appeal was not given within the six weeks because of the mistaken view that the time of the Court vacation up to January 10 would not be reckoned in the computation of the time.
His Honour said Mr Mahon’s application was brought in reliance on rule 74 of the Matrimonial Causes Rules which incorporated a number of the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure, one of these being that the Court shall have power to enlarge or abridge the time. “In my opinion the short answer to Mr Mahon’s argument is that the plain meaning of section 58 of the act is that there is a right of appeal but only if the ap-
peal is brought within six weeks after the pronouncing of the decision complained of. I do not think there is any escape from the plain meaning of the words used in the section,’’ his Honour said.
“The case indicates, I think, that there is a good deal to be said in favour of there being an amendment to Section 58 of the act so as to exclude part of the time of the Court vacation (as prescribed by the code) from the computation of the time in which an appeal may be brought,” his Honour said.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CI, Issue 29772, 15 March 1962, Page 7
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358Supreme Court Extension Of Period For Divorce Appeal Refused Press, Volume CI, Issue 29772, 15 March 1962, Page 7
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