Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia v J W Alexander Ltd[1] is a landmark Australian judgment of the High Court made in 1918 regarding judicial power of the Commonwealth which established that Chapter III of the Constitution required judges to be appointed for life to a specific court, subject only to the removal provisions in the constitution.
The Waterside Workers' Federation of Australia applied to the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration for a penalty to be imposed on J W Alexander Ltd for the breach of an award.
In the High Court Owen Dixon represented the Waterside Workers' Federation while Hayden Starke appeared for J W Alexander Ltd.
At the time s 72 of the Constitution provided :The Justices of the High Court and of the other courts created by the Parliament: (i) shall be appointed by the Governor-General in Council; (ii) shall not be removed except by the Governor-General in Council, on an address from both Houses of the Parliament in the same session, praying for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity;
[6] Griffith CJ agreed with the majority that a judge must be appointed for life, however his Honour dissented as to the conclusion, holding at p 448 that being the President of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration was not a separate judicial office, as it conferred no additional remuneration nor any personal right or advantage.
Isaacs, Higgins, Powers and Rich JJ held that the award could be enforced in any Magistrates' court exercising summary jurisdiction.
It was not until 1926 that the Parliament passed the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1926 which replaced the President with a Chief Judge who was appointed in the precise terms of s 72 of the Constitution.
The case was referred to by the Attorney General in the second reading speech for the proposed referendum to provide for a retirement age for federal judges.
It has, in consequence, been generally accepted that justices of the High Court, and other Federal judges including magistrates, cannot be required to retire on reaching a specified age.