Catchwords

CONTRACTS – GENERAL CONTRACTUAL PRINCIPLES – CONSTRUCTIONS AND INTERPRETATION OF CONTRACT – OTHER MATTERS – where the parties entered into a joint mineral exploration venture agreement – under the agreement, the applicant was required to contribute the application fees, security deposits, rental, field expense and assay costs – applicant paid all fees and expenses for the first year and in the second year requested 50% contribution to expenditure from respondent – issue of construction – whether on proper construction, the obligation of the applicant to pay the whole of the expenses applied to year 1 of the agreement only and thereafter the position reverted to common law principle of equal sharing of expenditure

INTERPRETATION – ADMISSIBILTY OF EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE IN RELATION TO INSTRUMENTS – WHERE EVIDENCE ADMISSIBLE – TO PROVE INTENTION OF PARTIES – LATENT AMBIGUITY - latent ambiguity of agreement – reliance placed on the ‘direct statements of intention’ of the applicant and respondent in entering into the agreement – Codelfa principle