Page:JT International SA v Commonwealth of Australia.pdf/87

Heydon J

"When a person is deprived of property, no terms can be regarded as just which do not provide for payment to him of the value of the property as at date of expropriation, together with the amount of any damage sustained by him by reason of the expropriation, over and above the loss of the value of the property taken. The amount so ascertained is no more than the just equivalent of the property of which he has been deprived."

The Commonwealth submitted that this did not represent the modern doctrine of this Court. But it cited no authoritative repudiation of it. The TPP Act makes no provision for compensation of any kind. Hence there are no just terms.

The Commonwealth submitted that the TPP Act did provide "just terms" in the form of "fair dealing" as between the "tobacco companies and the Australian nation representing the Australian community put at risk by their products." Even assuming the correctness of the numerous "constitutional facts" on which the Commonwealth relied in relation to smoking, this submission must be rejected. The Commonwealth put its submission as follows:

"For the Australian nation representing the Australian community to be required to compensate tobacco companies for the loss resulting from no longer being able to continue in the harmful use of their property goes beyond the requirements of any reasonable notion of fairness. That conclusion is reinforced by the profound incongruity involved in the provision of compensation to those who would benefit from continuing to engage in the harmful trading activity that would continue to be permitted but for the TPP Act."

In assessing the submission, it must be remembered that the legislation does not criminalise the sale of tobacco products. The parties accepted that tobacco products cause harm. It is more controversial whether reducing the use of intellectual property on the packaging of tobacco products will reduce that harm. Even accepting that it will, the submission must fail. Most expropriating legislation is designed in good faith to strike a balance between competing social interests with a view to solving particular problems. It is revolutionary to suggest that the Commonwealth is relieved of its obligation to provide just terms in the form of compensation merely because the legislation under which it acquires property is fair in the sense assumed by the submission. The primary authority on which the Commonwealth relied was directed not to substitutes for compensation, but to criteria relevant to the calculation of compensation. In