<P> Sir Anthony Mason became Chief Justice in 1987 . The Mason court was very stable, with only one change in the bench in its eight years, the appointment of Michael McHugh after Sir Ronald Wilson's retirement . The court under Mason was widely regarded as the most liberal bench in the court's history . </P> <P> The Mason court made many important decisions in all areas of Australian law . One of its first major cases was Cole v Whitfield (1988), concerning the troublesome section 92, which had been interpreted inconsistently and confusingly since the beginning of the court . For the first time, the court referred to historical materials such as the debates of the Constitutional Conventions to ascertain the purpose of the section, and the unanimous decision indicated "a willingness to overturn established doctrines and precedents perceived to be no longer working", a trend which typified the Mason court . </P> <P> The most popularly significant case decided by the Mason court was the Mabo case (1992), in which the court found that the common law was capable of recognising native title . The decision was one of the High Court's most controversial of all time and represented the tendency of the Mason court to receive "high praise and stringent criticism in equal measure ." Other controversial cases included the War Crimes Act case (1991), regarding the validity of the War Crimes Act 1945; Dietrich v The Queen (1992), in which the court found that a lack of legal representation in a serious criminal case can result in an unfair trial; Sykes v Cleary (1992), regarding the disputed election of Phil Cleary; and Teoh's case (1995), in which the court held that ratification of a treaty by the executive could create a legitimate expectation that members of the executive would act in accordance with that treaty . </P> <P> The court developed the concept of implied human rights in the Constitution in cases such as Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd v Commonwealth (1992), Nationwide News v Wills (1992) and Theophanous v Herald and Weekly Times (1994), in which the court recognised an implied freedom of political communication arising from the nature of the Constitution in laying out a system of representative government . </P>

Who appoints the judges of the high court