<P> The High Court's appellate jurisdiction is defined under section 73 of the Constitution . The High Court can hear appeals from the Supreme Courts of the states and territories, any federal court or court exercising federal jurisdiction (such as the Federal Court of Australia, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, or other federal courts), and decisions made by one or more Justices exercising the original jurisdiction of the court . </P> <P> However, section 73 allows the appellate jurisdiction to be limited "with such exceptions and subject to such regulations as the Parliament prescribes". Parliament has prescribed a large limitation in section 35A of the Judiciary Act 1903 . This requires "special leave" to appeal . Special leave is granted only where a question of law is raised that is of public importance; or involves a conflict between courts; or "is in the interests of the administration of justice". Therefore, while the High Court is the final court of appeal, it cannot be considered a general court of appeal . The decision as to whether to grant special leave to appeal is determined by one or more Justices of the High Court (in practice, a panel of two or three judges). That is, the Court exercises the power to decide which appeal cases it will consider . </P> <P> The issue of appeals from the High Court to the United Kingdom's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was a significant one during the drafting of the Constitution and it continued to be significant in the years after the court's creation . The wording of section 74 of the constitution that was put to voters in the various colonies was that there was to be no appeal to the Privy Council in any matter involving the interpretation of the Constitution or of the Constitution of a State, unless it involved the interests of some other dominion . </P> <P> Section 74 of the Constitution, as enacted by the Imperial Parliament, prohibited appeals on constitutional matters involving disputes about the limits inter se of Commonwealth or state powers, except where the High Court certified it was appropriate for the appeal to be determined by the Privy Council . It did so only once: in the 1912 case of Colonial Sugar Refining Co Ltd v Attorney - General (Cth) when the Court was equally divided . After that case, in which the Privy Council refused to answer the constitutional questions put to it, the High Court never certified another inter se appeal . Indeed, in the case of Kirmani v Captain Cook Cruises Pty Ltd (1985), the court said that it would never again grant a certificate of appeal . </P>

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