Weekly International Law ReviewEditor: Dr Harry Melkonian, Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie Law School
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Preview: GST in Property Transactions
with Leila Chalk and Hans Richmond |
| What is the GST treatment in conveyancing transactions and how may it differ under various circumstances? What transactions are subject to GST? What exemptions may apply? How should the GST withholding obligations be included in a contract of sale? What are the consequences of non-compliance? Join Leila Chalk (Managing Partner, Forty Four Degrees, Melbourne) and Hans Richmond (Lawyer, Forty Four Degrees, Melbourne) as they discuss these questions and offer tips for lawyers and conveyancers in this episode of BenchTV.
Subscribers can watch the full video at:
Bench TV CPD
You can subscribe to BenchTV here: click to subscribe |
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Executive Summary (One Minute Read)
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| George v Cannell (UKSC) - In the economic tort of malicious falsehood, proof of pecuniary loss is no longer a prerequisite in certain circumstances. However, compensation for injury to feelings or mental distress is unavailable unless there was accompanying actual financial injury
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| R (on behalf of the World Uyghur Congress) v National Crime Agency (EWCACiv) - Court holds that supply chains in which criminal conduct, such as forced labour, occurs, is not cleansed of criminality by the payment of adequate consideration for the goods
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HABEAS CANEM
Keeping watch
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Summaries With Link (Five Minute Read)
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George v Cannell [2024] UKSC 19
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Lord Hodge DP, Lord Hamblen, Lord Leggatt, Lord Burrows, & Lord Richards
Under the common law, proof of actual financial loss was an essential ingredient of a claim for malicious falsehood. However, by statute, the element of special damage was no longer required if the words published were calculated to cause pecuniary damage regarding trade or business. The Supreme Court found that the word 'special damage' means financial loss. The Court stated that, if the words stated were calculated to cause pecuniary damage, this sets up a presumption that financial loss was caused. However, the presumption does not extend to the amount of the loss. If actual business losses are not shown, then only nominal damages may be recovered. By a 3-2 majority, the Supreme Court would not allow injury for mental distress unless actual losses were established. The Court reasoned that injury to feelings must be consequential on economic damages and if no such damages have been shown, damages for injury to feelings are not available. In dissent, Lords Hamblen and Burrows took the position that, inasmuch as economic losses are no longer required for a successful malicious falsehood claim, it is inconsistent to hold that damages for mental distress are contingent on proof of economic loss.
George |
R (on behalf of the World Uyghur Congress) v National Crime Agency [2024] EWCA Civ 715
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
Baroness Carr CJ, Bean, & Andrews LJJ
The World Uyghur Congress requested that the National Crime Agency (NCA) investigate whether cotton goods originating from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region of China were produced by forced labour. The NCA declined to investigate on the grounds that it would not investigate unless criminality had been established. The Court of Appeal rejected this argument and sent the matter back to the NCA. In addition, the Court rejected the NCA's argument that goods lose the taint of criminality once adequate consideration has been paid at any point in the supply chain. The Court held that the NCA position was erroneous as a matter of law.
R (on behalf of the World Uyghur Congress) |
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Poem for Friday
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Sonnet 50: How heavy Do I Journey On the Way
By William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
How heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek, my weary travel’s end,
Doth teach that ease and that repose to say,
‘Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend!’
The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know
His rider lov’d not speed being made from thee.
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on,
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide,
Which heavily he answers with a groan,
More sharp to me than spurring to his side;
For that same groan doth put this in my mind,
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.
William Shakespeare, born 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, was the eldest son of John Shakespeare, glovemaker, and Mary Arden. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, pregnant with their first child, and then aged 26. By 1592 Shakespeare’s reputation in London was well established. He was a founding member of the company of actors called The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Shakespeare wrote two plays a year for the company. Those plays included Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, and King Lear. The company was later known as The King’s Men, under the patronage of King James I. Shakespeare’s work includes 154 sonnets, published in a quarto in 1609, 6 sonnets written within plays, poetry and 38 plays. Shakespeare is believed to have died at the age of 52 on 23 April 1616. He is buried in the local parish church at Stratford-upon-Avon, Holy Trinity.
Read by Colin McPhillamy, actor and playwright. Colin was born in London to Australian parents. He trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. In the UK he worked in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre for five seasons, and extensively in British regional theatre. In the USA he has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway and at regional centres across the country. Colin has acted in Australia, China, New Zealand, and across Europe. Colin is married to Alan Conolly’s cousin Patricia Conolly, the renowned actor and stage actress:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Conolly and
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47250992.
Sonnet 50 read by Patrick Stewart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x7Y_KgrKjM |
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