Australia Leading Case free tradeconvention debatesdiscrimination

Cole v Whitfield

[1988] HCA 18; (1988) 165 CLR 360

JurisdictionAustralia

CourtHigh Court of Australia

Year1988

StatusBinding authority

Key Principle

Section 92's guarantee that interstate trade be 'absolutely free' prohibits only discriminatory burdens of a protectionist kind, not all burdens; the 'individual rights' theory is abandoned in favour of a free-trade/anti-protectionism test.

Area of Law

Practitioner & Recent-Significant Sweep

Related Cases

Vanderstock v Victoria [2023] HCA 30; (2023) 279 CLR 333

Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd (Engineers' Case) [1920] HCA 54; (1920) 28 CLR 129

Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Bekier (Liability Judgment) [2026] FCA 196

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