A Bolivian artefact1 bought from a Colorado dealer by Palmanova was forfeited after import under cultural heritage laws2. It had to be shown that a ‘protected object of a foreign country has been exported from that country’ and that the ‘export was prohibited by a law of that country’. It was established that (A) the artefact came …
Forty years ago in the K&S Lake case, Mason J set down what he called the ‘modern approach’ to statutory interpretation1. The crucial breakthrough which the judge sought to engineer was that context in the ‘widest sense’ is to be considered ‘in the first instance’ rather than at some later stage ‘when ambiguity might be thought to arise’…
Grapple Pay v Conroy [2025] NSWCA 171
The Latin term in pari materia means ‘analogous’. Parliament is presumed to intend the same words used in a later statute ‘in a similar connection’ take the same meaning7. The practical application of this depends on the strength of the analogy in question.
In the present case, a suggested analogy between …
Police Federation v CCP (Victoria) [2025] FCA 865
This case repeats principles applying to enterprise agreements10 but makes extra points. One, context extends to the ‘historical antecedents’ by reference to what they may show. Two, when an expression is transplanted from history, ‘it may have brought with it some of the soil in which it once grew, retaining a …
Laming v Electoral Commissioner [2025] HCA 31
Statutes rarely pursue one purpose 100%. Did certain Facebook posts not giving sender particulars attract civil penalties at the maximum possible level?12
Although an object was to deter non-compliance, it did not follow that penalties calculated on a multiple recipient basis were intended. Section 15AA was of little assistance. The deterrence …
Queensland v Johnston [2025] QCA 142
J was suspended from teaching pending unrelated criminal charges. On acquittal, he sought lost pay on the basis he was ‘available to work’ at all times consistent with a statutory directive13. J argued that an example in the directive of detention in a correctional facility operated to confine the directive to physical …
Spigelman CJ once noted that ‘lawyers are traffickers in words’1. Trafficked words, however, often require safe passage across international borders and the high seas, most commonly within treaties. Fortunately, the principles for treaty interpretation hold steady in an often tumultuous global climate. This is illustrated by the High Court decision in Evans v Air Canada, where the …
Alliance Australia v Abawi [2025] NSWCA 85
An issue in this case was whether regulations made under a statute were extrinsic materials for the purposes of assisting determination of what ‘soft tissue injury’ means in the statute. The court said ‘no’.
Regulations made after enactment cannot be taken into account. But those made at the same time as the statute …
Monaltrie Area CAI v Santin [2025] NSWLEC 38
Subject to minor nuances, development consents are to be read in the same way as statutes7. In Monaltrie, Robson J (at [37-40]) makes 2 valuable points.
First, a development consent is to be interpreted ‘having regard to its enduring nature which encourages a fair but liberal reading of the …
Rainforest [2025] FCA 532, Panesar [2025] FCA 477
Two recent cases comment on treaty interpretation.
In Rainforest (at [121]), Shariff J noted – ‘it is difficult to see a material difference between the principles governing the interpretation of international treaties and those ordinarily adopted in respect of domestic legislation’11. In Panesar (at [97]), Feutrill J said – …
