King V Jones - Judgment

Judgment

In a unanimous decision, the court held that the words "adult person" in section 41 were fixed with the meaning they had when the Constitution came into effect, and thus applied only to people aged over 21. Justice Stephen summed up the court's opinion:

"The ordinary legal meaning of "adult"... was, at Federation, and had for centuries been, that of a person who had ceased to be an infant and had attained full age by attaining the age of twenty-one years."

Because the whole court decided that King was not an "adult person", and that section 41 did not apply to her, the court did not need to decide about the nature of section 41, whether it was a guarantee or a transitional provision. However, some of the judges did address the issue in obiter dicta. Justice Menzies said:

"The character of s. 41 is that of a permanent constitutional provision. It is not a provision to make temporary arrangements for the period between the establishment of the Constitution and the making of Commonwealth laws. It applies to a person, who, in 1901, had or who, in the future, acquires particular voting rights by the laws of a State."

Justice Gibbs was more reserved, saying:

"The view of Quick and Garran, that s.41 assures the right to vote at Commonwealth elections only to persons whose right to vote at State elections was acquired before the framing of a franchise by the Commonwealth Parliament... is far from clearly correct, but I find it unnecessary to express a final opinion upon it."

Although the court did not reach a conclusion about the nature of section 41, since it was unnecessary to decide that question, the various judgments did indicate that the section was not a temporary or transitional provision, but was rather a guarantee of the right to vote for all who could vote in their state.