Page "High Court of Australia" Paragraph 28

In general matters however, section 74 did not prevent the Privy Council from granting leave to appeal against the High Court's wishes, and the Council did so often.

In some cases, the council acknowledged that the Australian common law had developed differently from English law, and thus did not apply its own principles ( for example, in Australian Consolidated Press Ltd v Uren ( 1967 ), or in Viro v The Queen ( 1978 )), by using a legal fiction which stated that different common law can apply to different circumstances.

However, in other cases, the Privy Council enforced English decisions, overruling decisions by the High Court.

In Parker v The Queen ( 1963 ), Chief Justice Sir Owen Dixon led a unanimous judgment which rejected a precedent of the House of Lords in DPP v Smith saying, " I shall not depart from the law on this matter as we have long since laid it down in this Court and I think that Smith's case should not be used in Australia as authority at all "; the following year the Privy Council upheld an appeal, applying the House of Lords precedent.