Lanigan v Circus Oz [2022] VSC 35
A performer took VCAT harassment proceedings against the circus. One issue was whether VCAT was a ‘court’ for limitation of action purposes11. VCAT had been held to be a ‘court’ for other purposes12.
McDonald J (at [35]) held it was not a ‘court’ here. The statutory framework was different …
ACCC v J Hutchinson Pty Ltd [2022] FCA 98
The starting idea that the same word used in the same statute takes the same meaning has near mythic status14. In this competition case, Downes J (at [281]) said that, where the same concepts are used in a suite of provisions, ‘a consistent meaning should ordinarily be given’15…
NSW Bar Association v EFA [2021] NSWCA 339
A drunken barrister approached a female clerk at a dinner and suggested oral sex. The tribunal found he had not engaged in ‘professional misconduct’, which included ‘conduct … that would … justify a finding that the lawyer is not a fit and proper person to engage in legal practice’4. The …
Tay v Building Services Board [2021] WASC 433
Did engineering activities involve supervising ‘building construction’ for the purposes of someone becoming a building service practitioner8. In this case, not all the provisions, regulations and forms fitted together that well. Hill J (at [83-84]) stressed that, where possible, provisions of an Act must be understood as part of ‘the …
Antegra Pty Ltd v CCSR [2021] NSWSC 107
Payne JA in a land tax case (at [87]) said Treasury guidelines are ‘to be construed according to their text and purpose as evident from the document itself in the context of the legislative scheme in which the guidelines are required to be applied’. Ordinary principles of interpretation apply to them11…
AFP v Cranston (No 15) [2021] NSWSC 1332
Calculation of time often creates angst14. The issue was when an application to extend the date of forfeiture had to be made by. The statute said the ‘period at the end of which the property is forfeited is … the 6 month period starting on the conviction day’15 (1 …
Charara v Waverley Council [2021] NSWLEC 1650
Charara sought consent to add a mezzanine floor to his house in Bronte in breach of the applicable Floor Space Ratio standard. He succeeded by showing (A) the standard was unreasonable and unnecessary, (B) there were sufficient other grounds met, and (C) that public interest elements were satisfied.
Unapproved modifications already undertaken, however, …
Re K and M [2021] NSWSC 1314
In this family law case, Sacker J (at [32]) repeats the point that extrinsic materials may be taken into account without first having to find ambiguity or other difficulty. This is timely given the confusion which still appears to cloud the issue.
The instruction in CIC Insurance to consider context in the ‘widest …
Programmed v CILSLPB [2021] WASCA 208
What did ‘site’ mean in the definition of ‘construction industry’ in long service leave legislation?8 Martin J drew attention to the assumption that all words are assumed to have meaning and affect. This, he described (at [63]) as legislative words being ‘afforded some measure of coherent utility’9.
Consistent with the statutory …
Commissioner v Aristocrat [2021] FCAFC 202
Aristocrat sought to patent a ‘system or method for providing a feature game’ on poker machines12. Was the claim for a ‘manner of manufacture within the meaning of s 6 of the Statute of Monopolies’?13
Although ‘manner of manufacture’ appears in the legislation, its meaning is not resolved by the ordinary …
