A flier from Maddocks says – ‘It is a little known fact that the answers to life, the universe and everything related to statutory interpretation can be found in the magical text known as the Acts Interpretation Act 1901’. While this may overplay things a little, the AIA does provide many answers to statutory life and navigation of our …
Forrest v WA (No 2) [2024] FCA 729
Jackson J (at [139-140]) comments on how we are to apply ‘rules of construction’ under our system of interpretation3. We tend to assume parliament is some perfect machine and that the legislation it produces is also perfect. This is a false starting point, however, and not how things work out …
Storty [2024] NSWLEC 1397, Salisbury [2024] SASC 92
In Storty, it was said that development consents, as statutory instruments, are interpreted the same way as statutes5. They are to be read in the standard ‘text>context>purpose’ way6, as a whole, and so as not to undermine the statutory scheme in question7. In Salisbury…
Capral Ltd v CGU Insurance [2024] FCA 775
Jackman J (at [63-71]) provides a convenient guide on how insurance contracts are to be read.
(1) Meaning is determined objectively. (2) The perspective of the reasonable businessperson is to be adopted. (3) It is assumed parties intend to ‘produce a commercial result’9. (…
DPP v Smith [2024] HCA 32
After Smith was charged with child sex offences, the judge convened a ‘ground rules hearing’ from which Smith was excluded12. He argued that this infringed his right to a fair and public hearing. This was rejected. It was held there is no absolute rule that an accused must be present throughout their …
A judge in the US has asked what possible relevance generative AI may have in determining the ordinary meaning of words in legal texts – Snell v United Specialty Insurance Co1. A landscaper installed an in-ground trampoline in a backyard. A young girl was injured falling from the trampoline. The owner sued the landscaper who was insured against …
Edelman J uses the term ‘textual fundamentalism’ to describe a mode of interpretation ‘that divorces the words from their context and purpose’1. The term has a long history with scriptural texts. It also resonates with the New Textualism approach to statutes in America2. Textual fundamentalism, notes the judge, drives narrow literalism and the isolation of words …
Shafran v Secretary [2024] FCA 621
S challenged a review of his pension on the basis that ‘evidence’ considered was not otherwise admissible. Banks-Smith J (at [113]) held it was intended that pension reviews consider a wide range of material, and that ‘evidence’ here should bear this extended meaning across the statute in question5.
The judge quoted the …
EMJ18 v Secretary DHA [2024] FCAFC 87
What was said in this case (at [52]) about the expressio unius principle calls for comment8. First, always apply the principle with caution9. Second, this is consistent with the general rejection of rigid rules under our ‘modern approach’. Third, even where the principle may be relevant, it may be …
Sharp v Kiama Council [2024] NSWLEC 1360
This case concerned a dispute over residential lot sizes in an environmental plan. Commissioner Espinoza (at [41]) commented on the correct way instruments of this kind are to be interpreted. He quoted Robson J in another case for the following10.
(1) The same principles applied to statutes apply to environmental planning …
