Lord Nicholls in Royal Brunei Airlines v Tan
Honest people do not knowingly take others' property. Unless there is a very good and compelling reason, an honest person does not participate in a transaction if he knows it involves a misapplication of trust assets to the detriment of the beneficiaries. Nor does an honest person in such a case deliberately close his eyes and ears, or deliberately not ask questions, lest he learn something he would rather not know, and then proceed regardless.
Local Government Law
Early Land Grants and References
Public Service Privacy Fact Sheet
* Handy LEGAL References
NSW Crown Land Act 1989
Notes re Crown Lands Act 1989 (CLA) and RUTLEDGE 1959.
From Opinion as given by R.Finkelstein QC, Melbourne Chambers June 2013.
It is important to note that s.6 of the CLA provides that Crown Land is not, among other things, to be "used, sold, leased, licensed, dedicated or reserved or otherwise dealt with unless the [activity] is authorised by this Act". 2-4 Quarry St is Crown land. Note especially the last dotpoint here.
For land to be used for public recreation two conditions must be satisfied - it "must be...open to the public generally as of right, and it must not be a source of private profit" --Council of the Municipality of Randwick v Rutledge (1959) 102 CLR 54, 88.
This decision was reinforced by Storey v Council of the Municipality of North Sydney (1970) 123 CLR 574 whereby the High Court ruled that land which could only be used as a Public Reserve could not be leased to the Boys Scouts Assoc for a Hall because such use would, by reason of the lease mean that the land was not open to the public generally.
In Attorney General v Cooma Municipal Council (1962) 8 LGRA 111, 118 Brereton J said inter alia, "...any restriction on the public's access to the whole of the area for the purpose of recreation can be justified only on the basis that it is in the interest of the public and to provide for their recreation within the area that they are so excluded from part of it."
The clearly stated principle is that where profit is derived from the use of land reserved for a specified public purpose that use will only be lawful so long as the profits are devoted to the public purpose - Minister Administering the Crown Lands Act v NSW Aboriginal Land Council [2012] NSWCA 358 [30]
