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Statutory Interpretation and Access to Justice: Text, Context and Purpose
[email protected] Conference
La Trobe Law School, Melbourne17-18 July 2015
It is the function of the court alone authoritatively to declare the legal meaning of an enactment…[In the meantime all that exists
is] non-authoritative, non-judicial conjectures (usually by practising or academic lawyers) as to what [the enactment] amounts to.
Francis Bennion, Understanding Common Law Legislation: Drafting and Interpretation (Oxford University Press, 2001), 17, 19.
Transactional lawyers must make meaning of statutes daily
Courts deal with statutes up here
Transactional lawyers deal with statutes down here
Thinking, rethinking about statutes in land law
Challenge the emphasis in property law teaching
Embed iteration of working with statutes in property law teaching
Showcase how statutes promote access to justice
‘While much of Australian real property law has been reshaped by legislation, little attention has been given to the principles underlying much of the legislative reform. An understanding of real property law requires analysis not just of leading cases, but also of detailed legislation.’
Bradbrook et al, Australian Real Property Law (5th ed, 2011), 7
Learning property law tends to be structured like this
Common law Statute
Sovereignty Doctrine of tenure
Doctrine of estates Legislation…eg
We revert to common law
The conclusion … seems to us to result from a lawyer's inherent tendency to assimilate such a right to some category known to the common law… The question must be judged having regard to rights and interests created by the law of today, without, it seems to me, trying to fit them into the law of feudal tenures and estates.
Commissioner of Main Roads v North Shore Gas Co Ltd (1967) 120 CLR 118, 127, 131
This subject context
Iterative development: working with statutes (2nd
year)
Foundation statutory
interpretation
In depth look at principles;
general method; interpretive
criteria
Subject(s) content
Land law 1
Property
Land
Doctrines tenure & estates
Co-ownership
Priorities
Land law 2
Torrens
Mortgages
Leases
Easements, covenants
Subject approach: Broad statutory framework [context]
Statutory land title regulation
Freehold
Property Law Act
National Credit Code
Land Title Act
(Torrens)
Community Titles
Non-freehold land
Land Act
Retirement Villages Act
Native Title Act
Residential tenancies
Trusts Act
Mineral Resources
Act
Water Act
Retail shop leases
A journey through each statute [purpose]
Version, commence-ment
Purpose, objects
Structure
Geographical extent
Persons and things covered
Adapted from Francis Bennion, Understanding Common Law Legislation (Oxford, 2001), 184-5
Reading, interpreting particular text
S184(3) Land Title Act…[indefeasibility] subsections (1) and (2) do not apply…if there has been fraud by the registered proprietor…
Bahr v Nicolay (No 2) (1988) 164 CLR 604, 614‘…actual fraud, personal dishonesty or moral turpitude lie at the heart of the fraud exception [to indefeasibility]’
Towards an integrated approach
Common law terms
Statutory regulation
Private covenant
s
Tend to be omitted in
teaching
Usually a starting point
Tend to be considered after common law
Reading the instrument of mortgage (echoes approach to statute)
Commence-ment
Interest secured
Structure of instrument
Persons and things covered•Parties•Respective obligations
Does the Property Law Act apply? How/why?
Who has the power, and where are the protections: statute common law
Reading the instrument of lease
Commence-ment; termPremises leasedStructure of instrument
Persons and things covered• Parties• Respective obligationsDoes the Property Law Act apply?
How/why?
Who has the power, and where are the protections: statute common law?
Specific contexts: residential tenancies
Residential Tenancies legislation
‘Home’ unknown
to law
Poverty Inquiry 1975
Historical context
Observe machinations of change
Statutory reform
govt
lawyers Evaluate, identify
injustice; advocate
Call an inquiry
Processes of parliamentary
reform
Return to start
Identify statutory tools for social justice
Self-representation Address specific context
Equal access to information
Establish regulatory body
Alternative dispute resolution
Establish tribunal (now QCAT)
Read and make meaning of text: ‘intellectually manipulate the relevant materials’
Covenant: instrument
Property Law Act
Residential tenancies legislation
Common law
Quiet enjoyment
Short form covenants, Schedule 3
s183 Telex v Thomas Cook
New context: retail shop leases
Retail Shop Leases Act
Economic hardship
Small business
Power imbalanc
e
Integrate unseen statute and instrument
• Problem centered on the instrument• Does the statute apply?• Does the instrument comply?• What are the consequences?
Exercise requires students to
Establish how statutes work together
Read, apply subordinate legislation
Deal with uncertainty
Make meaning of unseen provisions
Appreciate the effect of power imbalance & role
of statute
More statutory tools for justice
Disclosure requirements
Advice requirements (legal, financial)
Minimum standards
Unconscionability provisions
Alternative dispute resolution
Specialist tribunal (now QCAT)