Commonwealth Numbered Acts

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA ACT 1976 No. 156 of 1976 - SECT 28

28. (1) Subject to any other Act, the Court may, in the exercise of its
appellate jurisdiction-

   (a)  affirm, reverse or vary the judgment appealed from;

   (b)  give such judgment, or make such order, as, in all the circumstances,
        it thinks fit, or refuse to make an order;

   (c)  set aside the judgment appealed from, in whole or in part, and remit
        the proceeding to the court from which the appeal was brought for
        further hearing and determination, subject to such directions as the
        Court thinks fit;

   (d)  set aside a verdict or finding of a jury in a civil proceeding, and
        enter judgment notwithstanding any such verdict or finding;

   (e)  set aside the verdict and judgment in a trial on indictment and order
        a verdict of not guilty or other appropriate verdict to be entered;

   (f)  grant a new trial in any case in which there has been a trial, either
        with or without a jury, on any ground upon which it is appropriate to
        grant a new trial; or

   (g)  award execution from the Court or, in the case of an appeal from
        another court, award execution from the Court or remit the cause to
        that other court, or to a court from which a previous appeal was
        brought, for the execution of the judgment of the Court.

(2) It is the duty of a court to which a cause is remitted in accordance with
paragraph (g) of sub-section (1) to execute the judgment of the Court in the
same manner as if it were its own judgment.

(3) The powers specified in sub-section (1) may be exercised by the Court
notwithstanding that the notice of appeal asks that part only of the decision
may be reversed or varied, and may be exercised in favour of all or any of the
respondents or parties, including respondents or parties who have not appealed
from or complained of the decision.

(4) An interlocutory judgment or order from which there has been no appeal
does not operate to prevent the Court, upon hearing an appeal, from giving
such decision upon the appeal as is just.

(5) The powers of the Court under sub-section (1) in an appeal (whether by the
Crown or by the defendant) against a sentence in a criminal matter include the
power to increase or decrease the sentence or substitute a different sentence.