Statute and Common Law: Interaction and Influence in Light o f the Principle of Coherence

Abstract

This article seeks to lay the groundwork for further discussion and analysis within the broader Australian legal community of the interaction between common law (here including equitable doctrines) and statute in the Australian private law context. Its thesis is that the principle of coherence requires us to take much more seriously than we have done to date the interplay between statute and common law as part of our everyday mode of legal reasoning when addressing private law disputes. Indeed, it arguably requires that statutes and general law must, so far as is possible, be interpreted and applied in such a way as to form part of a coherent private law as a whole.

Keywords: private law,

JEL Classification: K00, K39