Edwards & Ors v Santos Limited

The High Court of Australia considered a dispute between a group of landowners, the Edwards and others, and Santos Limited concerning the interpretation of a petroleum production licence and its impact on the landowners' rights. The core of the disagreement lay in whether Santos's activities under the licence constituted an interference with the landowners' property rights, particularly in relation to the extraction of petroleum.

The central legal question before the High Court was whether the Petroleum Production Licence granted to Santos under the *Petroleum Act 1920* (SA) authorised the company to conduct operations that interfered with the landowners' common law rights, specifically their right to support for their land. The court was required to determine the scope of the statutory rights conferred by the licence and how they interacted with, and potentially displaced, the common law rights of landowners.

The High Court held that the Petroleum Production Licence, by its express terms and the operation of the *Petroleum Act 1920* (SA), conferred upon Santos the right to do all things necessary for the recovery of petroleum, including operations that might cause subsidence. This statutory grant of authority was found to override the common law right to support, meaning that Santos was not liable for the subsidence caused by its petroleum extraction activities, provided those activities were conducted under the authority of the licence. The court applied principles of statutory interpretation, emphasising that clear statutory language is required to displace fundamental common law rights.

The High Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the decision of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia.