 Exceptionally the case was heard by a bench of six judges.Willes J gave the decision of the court.Curiously much of the case was dedicated not to the double actionability rule for which it would later be cited, but to argument upon whether (i) a law which was retrospective in nature was repugnant to natural justice, and (ii) whether the law was defective as a matter of procedure as the Governor had passed a statute into law in respect of which he had a direct conflict of interest.