Azimitabar v Commonwealth [2024] FCAFC 52
This case dismissed an appeal from the decision discussed in Episode 997. It confirms that the idea definitions are not read as a source of substantive power is no more than a ‘general principle’8.
Many cases, in fact, have not observed this ‘principle of good drafting’. One of them states …
Ex parte Northern Land Council [2024] NTSC 34
Episode 1 drew attention to comments by Nettle J about statutory obligations which are ‘impossible or impracticable’ to comply with10. This case (at [26-27]) says that impracticable consequences should be avoided where the provisions ‘are susceptible to an alternative construction’11. Further, it was not to be inferred that …
Liquorland v Director [2024] WASC 128
This liquor licencing appeal is an important reminder about what ‘legislative intention’ is and what it isn’t. Lemonis J (at [35]) quoted High Court authority for the point that legislative intention is ‘something of a fiction’15, and that there is never the attribution of some collective mental state to any legislators.
Findings …
Proportionality is a large and nuanced legal concept. While not often cited in interpretation, the core idea – the balance between the degree of departure from a baseline and the importance or clarity of the departure’s purpose – is useful in resolving interpretation questions. Under the ‘modern approach’, legal meaning usually corresponds with grammatical meaning, ‘but not always’1. …
Johnston v Carroll [2024] QSC 2
Many jurisdictions require their statutes to be interpreted in a way that is compatible with human rights6. This case is about whether directions to police and ambulance workers in Queensland to be COVID vaccinated were invalid for breaching human rights. It was held that, while the directions were unlawful, they were not …
Christian Community v Minister [2024] NSWCA 1
Private schools are funded where they are not ‘operated for profit’8. The school here was run for profit9 and the minister sought to recover funding. It was argued that the minister could only recover if a prior declaration had been made that the school ‘is’ being ‘operated for profit’10…
Dyjecinska v Step-Up [2024] NSWSC 159
Harrison AJ held that an unsigned and undated building contract remained enforceable by the builder12. The Act, accepted as involving consumer protection, required a contract in writing which sufficiently described the work. But extrinsic materials and amendments confirmed the purpose of the provisions13 to be to ensure that contracts were not …
Secretary v Stewart [2024] NSWCA 59
The issue was whether absence from work due to incapacity while receiving compensation is a ‘period of unpaid leave’ under the Act?14 The court said ‘no’ on the basis this was too strained an interpretation.
The court made several important points. One, adopting a ‘broad’ construction to remedial provisions from the outset …
Edelman J in Harvey v Minister [2024] HCA 1 comments on the ‘why, when and how’ regarding the role of extrinsic materials in interpretation. This arose in the context of whether granting a mineral lease1 expanding the McArthur River Project onto Aboriginal land gave the native title holders formal objection rights. It was held that it did. The legal …
Edelman J stresses the importance of context, saying that trying to understand speech without context is like trying ‘to understand the meaning of a painting before the paint is applied to the canvas’4. But only in the last 50 years have extrinsic materials been seen as part of that context for interpretation purposes.
Edelman J referred to the …
