Azizi v DPP [2022] VSCA 71
A and O jointly owned a house for which O provided the whole purchase price. O was charged with drug offences and a restraining order placed on the house. O was convicted. A argued her interest should be excluded from confiscation as she acquired it from O ‘for sufficient consideration’5. This was …
Krajcar [2022] VSC 173 and Kildair [2022] VSC 251
Two Victorian cases make key points on remedial and beneficial legislation. In the first, Croft J (at [39-41]) notes that, while remedial laws ‘should be given a beneficial construction’9, this does not allow a court ‘to transcend express words … or to disregard the fundamental structure and approach of …
Piastrino v Seascape Constructions [2022] VSC 202
It is taken as read that statutory definitions are to be inserted into the substantive provision before interpretation is applied12. To do otherwise ‘invites error’. Delany J (at [68]) makes the important extra point that the substantive provision expanded by incorporation of the definition also needs to be read in context …
Twin Rivers Developments v FCT [2022] AATA 887
This decision makes an important point about characterisation. The issue was whether payments to the director of a development entity and his wife were ‘wages’ giving rise to a ‘cash flow boost’ entitlement14. The director gave evidence they were wages and that he and his wife were employees.
However, as …
This political yard sign case shows how big principles resolve little cases – here, the nitty-gritty of town planning laws1. Before the election was called, supporters of Zoe Daniel put up yard signs (aka ‘corflutes’) in advance of her candidacy for Goldstein. The council threatened fines, saying (A) the signs were each a ‘development’ requiring a permit2…
Secretary v AEUNSW [2022] NSWSC 263
Walton J in a industrial relations case surveys a range of interpretation principles then (at [38]) reduces the most fundamental of them to a single sentence – ‘… the correct approach to the construction of a statutory provision must start and end with the statutory text, and by reference to the purpose of …
Todorovska v Brydens Lawyers [2022] NSWCA 47
From a $100K damages award, lawyers deducted $68K for their costs under a special agreement overriding the statutory cap of $10K. The plaintiff complained that this eventuality had not been disclosed to her, as required5. The appeal court agreed and duly reduced the costs to the lawyers.
Basten JA said (at …
R v Rolfe [2021] HCA 38
A police officer fatally shot an indigenous man during an arrest and was later acquitted of murder. A side issue went to the High Court on the scope of police powers8. On the impact of section headings on interpretation, the court said (at [18]) that ‘a modern approach to statutory construction often …
Amir v Professional Standards [2022] FCAFC 44
Ordinary meaning, the court said11, ‘must necessarily yield to the relevant statutory context’12. The ordinary meaning of ‘decision’ is a conclusion resulting from a mental process translated by an overt act giving finality to that conclusion13. What kind of overt act was required here and when?
The …
In a recent election case, a plurality of the High Court made the following comments1 – ‘The identification of legislative purpose involves ‘ordinary processes of interpretation, including considering the meanings of statutory words in the provision, meanings of other provisions in the statute, the historical background to the provision, and any apparent social objective’. A number of …
