Dentown Pty Ltd v PWI Group [2019] NSWSC 1032
Rees J in this case considered whether a company director had improperly used information to gain an advantage contrary to the Corporations Act10. In interpreting the provisions, the judge (at [248]) relied on a note to the Act. Here, notes were part of the Act and had ‘the same …
Taylor v Attorney-General [2019] HCA 30
Edelman J in this case (at [148]) said reliance on ambiguous statements in an EM ‘would invite a teleological approach to interpretation’14. What was he getting at? The context was the meaning of ‘private prosecution’ in the War Crimes Act 1945, where the EM had said that it was ‘desirable to …
Pell v The Queen [2019] VSCA 186
The accused was convicted of child sex offences and jailed for 6 years. Appeal ground 3 was that he had not been arraigned ‘in the presence of’ the jury2. With his consent, the jury had seen the process in full via video-link. All judges rejected the argument that ‘presence’ meant only …
Firefighters Benefit Fund v FCT [2019] AATA 2775
ITAA36 s 121 says that an association of persons formed for the purpose of insuring them against loss, damage or risk ‘is taken … to be a company carrying on the business of insurance’. The fund argued that, despite this, it was not an entity of this kind because insurance legislation definitions …
Mondelez v AMWU [2019] FCAFC 138
For each year of service, an employee was ‘entitled to 10 days of paid personal/carer’s leave’6. X worked three 12 hour shifts a week, rather than standard hours for the same total. Was X entitled to 10 days at 7.2 hours per day under the ‘industrial’ meaning of ‘day’, or 10 days …
Fitzpatrick v Lifetime Support [2019] SASCFC 97
A scheme for future care10 sought to exclude rights to common law damages11. Legislation is usually not read this way unless a contrary intention appears12. In this case, however, there was an unmistakeable policy to exclude those rights, manifested by the alternative compensation the scheme provided.
A narrow …
Satmell v Blacktown CC [2019] NSWLEC 94
Identifying the purpose of provisions at the correct level is ‘integral’ to interpretation3 because purpose drives constructional choice, consistent with s 15AA of the Acts Interpretation Act 19014. Even though purpose resides in the text and structure of the statute, it may be derived from external sources.
This case (at …
Waterfront Place v Minister [2019] VSCA 156
This appeal from a case in Episode 42 is about the meaning of ‘no later than’ in VCAT notice-giving provisions. Refusing the appeal, the court focussed on the interpretation provision about calculating time5, and whether a ‘contrary intention’ excluded its operation. It was argued that the absence of uncertainty amounted to …
Klemweb Nominees v BHP [2019] FCAFC 107
The key quote from this class action case on common fund orders (at [138]) is that policy ‘divorced from law has no voice in the courts’9. It was argued that the policy behind another provision in a different statute controlled interpretation of federal class action provisions – rejected.
Policy can be …
Fairfax Media v Gayle [2019] NSWCA 172
Chris Gayle the cricketer sued Fairfax for defamation – it was in all the papers. Leeming JA (at [258-259]) commented on the ‘symbiotic relationship’ between statutes and the common law11. They are not separate and independent sources of law, he said.
This is a subtle and difficult area, but with practical …
