Statutory Interpretation

Statutory Interpretation
Objectives for the lesson to have a thorough understanding of:
• What statutory interpretation is
• The literal rule
• The golden rule
• The mischief rule
What is it?
As seen in previous week, many statutes are passed by parliament each year. The meaning of the law in these statutes should be clear and explicit, but this is not always the case. In order to help with the understanding of a statute Parliament sometimes includes sections defining certain words use in that statute: such sections are called interpretation sections.
The Theft act 1968In the theft act 1968, for example, the definition of ‘theft’ is given in section one, and then sections two and six define the key words in that definition. To help the judges with general words, parliament has also passed the interpretation act 1978 which makes it clear that, unless the contrary appears, ‘he’ includes ‘she’, and singular includes plural.
Parliament passes statutes and judges must interpret and apply them in court.   Where the meanings of words are unclear, judges will apply one of the various rules of interpretation.   These rules were developed in the following ways:
• The literal rule
• The golden rule
• The mischief rule
• The purposive approach
The need for statutory interproThe need for statutory interpretation
Many cases come before the courts because these is a dispute over the meaning of an act of parliament. In such cases the court’s task is to decide the exact meaning of a particular word or phrase. There are many reasons why the meaning may be unclear, these include:
• Words are an imperfect means of communication
• Words very often have more than one meaning i.e. they can be ambiguous
• A broad term may be used in a statute which can give rise to confusion and uncertainty
• There may be errors or omissions when the statute is drafted
• New developments in society can make the words used in a statute out of date and they may no longer cover the current... [continues]

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