Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth

Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth
Court	High Court of Australia
Full case name	Australian Communist Party v The Commonwealth
Decided	9 March 1951
Citations	[1951] HCA 5, (1951) 83 CLR 1
Court membership
Judges sitting	Latham CJ, Dixon, McTiernan, Williams, Webb, Fullagar, and Kitto JJ
Case opinions
The Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 (Cth) is beyond the power of the Parliament and is invalid. It is not supported by the express incidental power read with the executive power of the Constitution or under an implied nationhood power. The Act does not prescribe any rule of conduct or prohibit specific acts or omissions by way of attack or subversion, but deal directly with bodies and persons named and described. "The stream cannot rise above the source", or, "The Parliament cannot recite itself into power" the Parliament itself purports to determine, or empower the Executive to determine, the very facts upon which the existence of the power depends.
Majority	Dixon, McTiernan, Williams, Webb, Fullagar, and Kitto JJ
Dissent	Latham CJ

Australian Communist Party v The Commonwealth, also known as the Communist Party Case,^[1] was a legal case in the High Court of Australia in 1951 in which the court declared the Communist Party Dissolution Act 1950 unconstitutional and invalid as being beyond the power of the Parliament. Notable Australian academic George Winterton described the case as "undoubtedly one of the High Court's most important decisions".^[2]