For many years, senior judges have asked that the ‘teaching of statutory interpretation is given the prominence and priority which its daily importance to modern legal practice warrants’1. Few cases in any court these days do not involve the interpretation of some statutory framework or other2. John Milburn is a QCAT member who also teaches Advanced …
What did parliament mean by the words it used? – that’s always the question. These cases from the modern era tell us the most important things about how to read statutes. Statutory interpretation, first and foremost, is an objective and flexible process1 within which constructional choices almost invariably arise2. Legislative intention is an output of that process …
For over 3 years now, I have watched with interest the progress of iNOW! The 42 episodes serve an important purpose of expanding our awareness of the principles of statutory interpretation – a small but important step towards better tax administration and a stronger tax system. Our 2024 Vision focuses on ‘doing the basics brilliantly’, and being able …
Professor Dennis Pearce has published a new book called Interpretation Acts in Australia. This invaluable resource fills a gap in the learning on interpretation as a companion volume to his foundational text (with Harry Geddes) Statutory Interpretation in Australia. The new book deals in depth with all the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the interpretation of legislation in this …
Every so often, a case comes along crammed with interpretation learning – Uber BV, for example, see Episode 21. This month, there are 2 of them, both appeal decisions. A2 v R is about the meaning of ‘otherwise mutilates’ in a criminal law context1, while WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene concerns who may be a ‘casual employee’ for …
Sometimes even the most basic things can be overlooked … things like whether purposive interpretation is mandatory. As we know, a daunting range of common law rules and canons may impact statutes. Into this mix, parliament legislated s 15AA of the Acts Interpretation Act, first in 1981 to say that a ‘construction that would promote the purpose or object …
Episode 37 presented the Possum Case1 as a practical illustration of how to do constructional choice. We emphasised that interpretation turns on ‘evaluation of the relative coherence of the alternatives with identified statutory objects or policies’. Two more recent cases progress the learning in this space. The first makes the point that the choice between alternatives is not to …
The Possum Case is a classic application of constructional choice principles in a practical setting1. At issue was the scope of an exemption2 from prohibitions on forestry operations found detrimental to the ‘critically endangered’ marsupial. Mortimer J (at [44-51]) quotes the High Court3 on constructional choice, emphasising that ‘evaluation of the relative coherence of the alternatives …
Statutory interpretation begins and ends with the text of the law1, something the High Court tells us again and again. However, interpretation is never to be conducted in a vacuum. Words must be read with regard to their context and the statutory purpose2. This involves far more than defaulting to some dictionary of choice. There are …
Michael Kirby has described interpretation as ‘an art not a science’1. As readers of statutes, we may forget that the exercise cannot be reduced to a scientific calculation or mechanistic formula2. It is not something a robot can do … yet. Interpretation involves a sympathetic quest for meaning, where context in the widest sense is …
