-- LABC legal counsel navigates statute of Household Limitations
Like a prized breeding bull, modern cycling man cannot mount and ride whenever the urge takes him.
There are certain arrangements that must be satisfied before being unleashed.
While bull breeders manually coax their prized beasts into frenzied excitement and then, at the critical nostril flaring moment, exercise industry best-practice coitus interruptus plastic cup interception, cyclists, however, rarely experience such magical moments of riding pleasure.
Instead, we’re faced with a list of menial chores and passive-aggressive threats that railroad agreement on restrictive terms governing route, timing, and estimated downtime before subsequent rides.
Of all limitations, weekend ride frequency – usually capped at one – is most frustrating for cyclists. What on earth can be so important that it should prohibit riding for an entire weekend day, which in any case is usually spent doing nothing much at all?
Monday’s Auckland Anniversary holiday is a nostril flaring prospect for the modern cyclist operating under the weekend ride frequency cap (n=1), with Monday a marvellous opportunity for a chunky riding bookend to the one (n=1) weekend ride restriction.
But hang on a minute. Does a Sunday ride followed by another on the Bank Holiday Monday constitute “two rides on the weekend” and contravene the n=1 frequency cap?
We sought counsel from LABC legal advisor Pete M.
He advises:
The fundamental rule of contractual interpretation is set out in Chitty on Contract (30th ed, Sweet & Maxwell, 2010) at page 516 as follows (citing Mallan v May (1844) 13 M & W. 511, 517):
“As the meaning to be put on a contract is that which the plain, clear and obvious result of the terms used therein, so…words are to be construed according to their strict and primary acceptation…”
I next turn to the esteemed Free Online Dictionary which defines ‘weekend’ thus: “a time period usually extending from Friday night through Sunday; more loosely defined as any period of successive days including one and only one Sunday”
I therefore conclude that a ride on a Sunday followed by a ride on a statutory holiday cannot qualify as two rides in a weekend.
An invoice for $5,000 is in the post.
He subsequently added: As an experienced transactional lawyer, my advice is – sod the law, take the deal that’s on the table.
