A corporation may be a trading corporation even though trading is not its predominant activity, but trading must be a substantial and not merely peripheral activity.

The term 'trading' extends beyond buying and selling to business activities carried on with a view to earning revenue and includes trade in services.

The making of a profit is not an essential prerequisite to trade, but it is a usual concomitant.

The ends which a corporation seeks to serve by trading are irrelevant to its description; the fact that trading activities are conducted in the public interest or for a public purpose will not necessarily exclude their characterisation as trade.

Whether the trading activities of an incorporated body are sufficient to justify its categorisation as a trading corporation is a question of fact and degree.

The current activities of the corporation, while an important criterion for determining its characterisation, are not the only criterion; regard must also be had to the intended purpose of the corporation.

The commercial nature of an activity is an element in deciding whether the activity is in trade or trading.

When assessing whether a corporation is a trading corporation, the court must consider all the factors together in a qualitative judgment: the organisation's purpose, its non-profit status, the nature of its funding, the absence of profit motive, the provision of services free or at below-cost, the degree of government control, and the altruistic character of the work. When these factors are taken together, activities lacking commercial character cannot be described as trade.

The provision of large-scale legal and allied services for reward is ordinarily trading, and the fact that services are not done for profit is not determinative of character; however, when services are provided free of charge for altruistic purposes under a non-profit constitution requiring application only to altruistic objects, pursuant to a government agreement under which the organisation is reimbursed for most of its costs, the activities lack commercial character and resemble those of a government-run legal aid agency rather than trade.

A corporation formed within Australia satisfies the constitutional description 'trading corporation' in s51(xx.) if trading is a substantial corporate activity, assessed by current activities rather than purpose of incorporation; the corporation's actual activities determine its nature.

Constitutional provisions such as 'trading corporation' in s51(xx.) must be given generous rather than restrictive construction and are not ossified to classifications current in 1901; they must embrace all that falls within their natural meaning according to the circumstances of the time.

Trade for constitutional purposes is not confined to dealing in goods or commodities; the commercial nature of an activity is an element in deciding whether action is in trade or trading.