GHP 104 160 689 v FCT [2014] AATA 515
iNOW! has now covered a range of important interpretation themes. This little R&D case on ‘feedstock expenditure’ conveniently discusses several of them (at [166]) – importance of the text; the Act as a whole; context and purpose; policy issues (especially preconceived policy); composite expressions (see above); and statutory definitions.
A good …
iNOW! has business line input these days, which is already making the product better – thanks everyone. As new High Court judge Michelle Gordon and ex-High Court judge Ken Hayne put it, ‘the proper construction and application of statutes always has been, but now more than ever is, an essential legal skill’ – we agree. The theme we want …
Skyy Spirits v Lodestar [2015] FCA 509
In 2010, the High Court said you shouldn’t look at extrinsic materials ‘before exhausting the application of the ordinary rules of statutory construction’2. Perram J took this as signalling some shift away from the settled idea that we are to look at context in the widest sense upfront.
Now, in Skyy …
EHL Burgess Properties v CSR [2015] VSC 295
This case reminds us (at [67]) that you can’t use regulations to interpret the Act they are made under. Otherwise, it ‘would be a case of the tail wagging the dog’3. One exception here is where the Act is expressly made subject to the regs.
Also, where the Act and …
LM v K Lawyers (No 2) [2015] WASC 245
When parliament uses different language to express an idea, it usually intends a different meaning. This is particularly so, said the court (at [18]), where ‘a long-established form of words’ is abandoned.
However, with mass-migration of provisions from ITAA36, s 1-3(2) of ITAA97 preserves original meaning where the same idea is …
Matthews v The Tap Inn [2015] SADC 108
Phrases in legislation like ‘is taken to be’ create a deeming provision, as this case notes (at [19]). Deeming provisions usually involve a ‘statutory fiction’ – a legal version of ‘let’s pretend’ – but only where the facts required are first made out7. They come in various guises – ‘deemed …
Gordon has passed me the pen for Episode 3 (Rebecca Smith next month). One point resonating from Episode 2 is that interpretation usually involves selecting the best answer from among ‘constructional choices’. Computers cannot do that, nor can mathematical algorithms – not yet anyway.On the production front, we now have business line input on tone and content. One thing we …
Plaintiff B15a v Minister [2015] HCA 24
If words of an Act are in the singular, they are presumed to include the plural (and vice versa) unless a contrary intention appears – see s 23 of the Acts Interpretation Act 19011.
In this High Court case, however, Kiefel J (at [8]) rejected the idea that ‘a parent’ should …
Task Technology v FCT [2014] FCAFC 113
This case, which is about software royalties under the Canadian double tax agreement, makes 4 key points – (1) take a ‘holistic’ approach to DTA interpretation2; (2) give primacy to the written text; (3) context, object and purpose ‘must also be considered’3; and (4) the OECD commentary and related …
Carroll v Secretary [2015] VSCA 156
Does a word used many times in an Act always have the same meaning? Not necessarily. The presumption that words are used consistently depends on context6. In this case (at [22]) the presumption was applied, consistent with the clear meaning of the text and its structure.
The presumption is given less weight …
