Croc’s Franchising v Alamdo [2023] NSWCA 256
Did COVID regulations protect Croc’s as an ‘impacted lessee’ from termination by Alamdo?4 Clause 7 required regard be had to National Code principles when decisions affected ‘impacted lessees’.
While ordinary interpretation principles apply to delegated legislation5, that legislation will often not be drafted with the same care as statutes6. Clause 7 was to be read to ‘best give effect to the purpose and language’7 and to be ‘coherent and consistent’ with the National Code. On this basis, the majority reconciled the operation of clause 7 with the wider scheme. It was held that the clause 7 period of operation protected Croc’s from action by Alamdo.
This principle is from Episode 102 of interpretation NOW!
Footnotes:
4 Schedule 5 to the Conveyancing (General) Regulations 2018 (NSW).
5 Agfa-Gevaert Ltd (1996) 186 CLR 389 (398), Ketchell [2008] HCA 38 [19].
6 Orchard [2014] NSWCA 149 [44-45], M House [2023] FCA 768 [78].
7 Project Blue Sky [1998] HCA 28 [70] cited.