In the middle third of the 19th century Upper Canada (now Ontario) followed by South Australia passed statutes for the legal recognition of religious bodies. The latter statute has already been the subject of a brief history. This article considers the background to the enactment of Upper...

Direct taxation of persons who receive distributions of surplus assets in the liquidation of Australian companies occurs under either the deemed dividends or capital gains regimes. Section 47 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) has deemed dividends for income taxation for over 80 years...

This Article examines what lessons may be learned from examining how Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have tried to manage the shift away from defined benefit plans towards defined contribution plans. This shift has fundamentally changed the relationship between workers and...

This article briefly describes the legal position in Australia prior to the Ice decision. It then explains the nature of the changes to that position as a consequence of the Ice decision. After dealing with the Ice decision, the recent first-instance decision in Phone Directories will be considered

This article is about the interpretation of legal texts. Its immediate aim is to defend, against a certain sort of originalist objection, the well-known cases that hold that the Australian Constitution, by implication, guarantees certain political freedoms and entitlements. That is not to say...

This paper first briefly introduces the reader to nanotechnology and the potential health risks it raises. It then reviews how nanotechnology is or may be used by the food industry so that challenges that must be addressed by food regulations can be better understood. The application of current...

This article examines to what extent there is legacy of the Commission’s labour standards in the new legislated standards in the National Employment Standards and dismissal protection in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The Commission’s ‘community standards’, mainly from ‘test cases’...

Charities are an essential part of Australian civil society and make fundamental contributions to social cohesion and well-being, as well as to the Australian economy. Public trust and confidence in the sector has, however, been damaged by high profile governance failures, despite the advent of...

This study is part of a larger international investigation of the effects of a country's legal origins on the style of business regulation. We employ an innovative 'leximetric' methodology to numerically code the protective strength of Australian corporate law for both shareholder and creditor...