When Two People Sign the Same Contract but Mean Two Different Things
When two businessmen signed a Mandarin contract without lawyers, they thought “equity” meant land. The Court of Appeal in Sui v Jiang (2021) showed why translation gaps can turn million-dollar ventures into years of litigation. The Court reaffirmed that commercial certainty depends not on language, but on the law’s view of intention — and how fairness survives imperfect words.
When Privacy Silences a Billion-Dollar Dispute
When family wealth meets confidentiality and control, the High Court must decide who gets to tell the story. In Rinehart v Hancock Prospecting (2019), the Court upheld arbitration clauses that forced family trust disputes into private hearings. The case redefined how far confidentiality can reach in Australia’s commercial and family trust law — showing that, sometimes, even family truth stays behind closed doors.