Australian Provincial Assurance Association Ltd v Roddy [1956] HCA 33

len v

AUSTRALIAN PROVINCIAL ASSURANCE

HIGH COURT 11956.

[HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.]

ASSOCIATION LIMITED APPELLANT ;

APPLICANT, AND

RODDY AND ANOTHER 3 A 7 . RESPONDENTS,

RESPONDENTS,

ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

H.C. or A. Landlord and Tenant—Justices—Statutory prohibition—Rule nisi—Fair rent—

1956. Ww

Sypvery, Mar. 22, 23;

MELBOURNE, June 26.

Dixon C.J., McTiernan, Williams, Webb and Fullagar JJ.

Excess payment—Conviction—Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1948. 1952 (N.S.W.), ss. 8, 15, 35—Justices Act 1902-1951 (N.S.W.), s. 112.

Section 15 (1) of the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1948-1952 (N.S.W.) provides :—Except in the case of premises which were not in existence or were not leased on the first day of March, one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine, the rent payable by the lessee of any prescribed premises (or of prescribed premises together with goods) shall not, in respect of any period after the commencement of the Landlord and Tenant (Amend. ment) Act 1951, and notwithstanding any term or covenant in any lease in force at any time after such commencement, exceed the rent payable in respect of the prescribed premises at the first day of March, one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine (including the rent of any goods then leased therewith and the charge for any service then provided in connection with the lease), or where that rent has been increased or decreased by a determina- tion made before such commencenient and in force immediately before such commencement the rent as so increased or, decreased.

When the rent of premises was expressed as a percentage of the gross receipts of the business occupying the premises ;

Held: that the phrase " the rent payable on 1st March 1949" connoted a sum expressed as a money figure and as such fixed, and not a sum expressed solely as a formula and as such variable ; and that it denoted the sum which became payable in respect of the period of tenancy in which Ist March 1949 occurred.