A Port Augusta resident will return to the Supreme Court of South Australia after his attempt to use an archaic legal concept to charge several government officials and his local council with more than 350 criminal offences failed.

Trevor Matthew Robertson launched a "private prosecution" against 11 separate parties, including Port Augusta Council, its mayor Linley Shine and its chief executive John Banks in the Port Augusta Magistrates Court.

Private prosecution is a hundreds-of-years-old common law concept which pre-dates formal law enforcement bodies.

In their submissions to the court, each of the defendants' lawyers shared the view that Mr Robertson could not adequately explain how each party had committed the numerous alleged offences.

The lawyers called for all charges to be dism

See Full Page