Perry v Gillespie

This case concerned an appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales regarding the interpretation of a contract for the sale of land, which included conditionally purchased Crown lands. The parties to the appeal were William Benjamin Perry (the vendor) and Robert William Gillespie (the purchaser). The central dispute revolved around the contractual provision for the "adjustment of all instalments" as at the date of settlement, specifically concerning payments due to the Crown for the conditionally purchased land.

The legal issues before the court were twofold: first, whether the vendor was entitled to recover from the purchaser any portion of the instalments that fell due to the Crown before the settlement date, and second, whether the purchaser was entitled to recover from the vendor any portion of instalments that would fall due after the settlement date. These questions hinged on the nature of the instalments themselves – whether they were payments in advance for future occupation or payments for past occupation, and how the contractual term "adjustment" applied to these payments in the context of the relevant Crown Lands legislation.

The High Court, affirming the decision of the Supreme Court, held that instalments payable under the Crown Lands Acts, after the initial three-year period, were to be considered payments in respect of the current year at the end of which they became due. Consequently, where a contract stipulated an adjustment of instalments as at the date of settlement, this required an apportionment of any instalment that became payable after settlement. The vendor and purchaser were to bear a portion of such instalments proportionate to the period of the year each had possession of the land. The court found that instalments due before the settlement date, even if not yet paid by the vendor, were the vendor's responsibility, as they related to periods of occupation prior to settlement or the period ending at the due date of the instalment. The appeal was dismissed with costs.