Cole v Whitfield · High Court of Australia · 1988

Does free trade protect him?

Short answer: No: the law wasn't protectionist.

The facts. A Tasmanian trader bought crayfish legally in South Australia and shipped them home. They were too small under Tasmanian rules. He said the Constitution's 'absolutely free' trade clause protected him.

The ruling. Cole v Whitfield (1988): The court unanimously held the free trade clause bars only protectionist laws, not rules applied evenly like this one.

A dispute over undersized crayfish overturned decades of confused case law on section 92. The crayfish were legal in South Australia but undersized in Tasmania.

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For fun, not legal advice.