Mohamad Zabidin bin Mohd Diah

On the judicial record

A record of apex- and appellate-level reasoning on the federal-state division of power under the Federal Constitution, judicial power, murder under the Penal Code, income-tax enforcement, and hospital liability.

Mohamad Zabidin bin Mohd Diah appears in this collection sitting in the Federal Court and the Court of Appeal, and the docket is weighted toward constitutional, criminal and public law of the first importance. A landmark constitutional matter concerns the exclusive original jurisdiction of the Federal Court under Articles 4(3), 4(4) and 128(1) of the Federal Constitution and a challenge to the validity of provisions of a State Syariah criminal enactment said to trespass on federal legislative power. Judicial power itself is examined in an appeal on whether a statutory provision abrogated the judicial power vested in the courts. Criminal law features through murder under section 302 of the Penal Code decided on circumstantial evidence and the need for a clear finding under the applicable limb, and through a challenge to section 498 of the Penal Code as an archaic provision from a bygone era. Revenue law is engaged in a high-profile taxpayer's challenge to a summary claim by the Inland Revenue Board for tax arrears under section 106 of the Income Tax Act 1967. Tort and hospital liability appear in an appeal on the liability of a hospital, and the legal profession through the powers of the Bar to compensate members of the public for a solicitor's criminal breach of trust under the Legal Profession Act 1976. Judicial review engages a local authority's discretion in granting planning permission over public space, and customs law the validity of a continuous seizure of goods under section 128 of the Customs Act 1967. Because these matters are decided in panels and bind or guide the courts below, they settle points of general importance. Private individuals are referred to by role; corporate, governmental and statutory parties are named. A recurring concern is the boundary between federal and state power and between the judicial and other powers. The collection is a valuable record of apex- and appellate-level constitutional and public-law reasoning.