...Statutes would be interpreted frequently by courts in modern time, Owing to the defect of ambiguity or language in legal terms, defect of statutes. Some amount of interpretation is necessary when the word of statute is ambiguity, sometimes, the content of statutes have a straightforward meaning. But the ambiguity of the words in the statutes must be solved by courts, it is true that have some ambiguity or have a unclear meaning of statutes' words in most case. Statutory interpretation allows the judge to have a clear meaning of what is meant by the statutes. Hence, statutory interpretation is an important process when the case is judging by court and courts would seek to interpret the statutes at full steam. In the modern legal system, there are four general approaches to construe statutes that are respectively the golden rule, the literal rule, the purposive approach and the mischief rule. The quoted statement by Lord Denning means, when statute is interpreting, the judge need to understand the entire content of statutes and ascertain the intention of Parliament that better than reading different section of statues and to understand them separately, or words by words. In other words, Lord Denning said that by applying purposive approach better than literal rule. We need to understand and ascertain the meaning of four approaches before discussing the statement by Lord Denning. Whichever approaches or rules may be applied by court, giving a clear meaning of particular words...
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...------------------------------------------------- Statutory Interpretation There are four general approaches to construe statutes that are respectively the golden rule, the literal rule, the purposive approach and the mischief rule. The quoted statement by Lord Denning means, when statute is interpreting, the judge need to understand the entire content of statutes and ascertain the intention of Parliament that better than reading different section of statues and to understand them separately, or words by words. In other words, Lord Denning said that by applying purposive approach better than literal rule. Extrinsic aids are matters which may help put an Act into context. Sources include previous Acts of Parliament on the same topic, earlier case law, dictionaries of the time, and the historical setting. In addition, Hansard can now be considered. Hansard is the official report of what was said in Parliament when the Act was debated. The use of Hansard was permitted following the decision in Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart (1993) where the House of Lords accepted that Hansard could be used in a limited way. It permits Hansard to be used where the legislation is ambiguous or obscure or leads to an absurdity, and the material relied on comprises one or more statements by a Minister or other promoter of the Bill and such other parliamentary material as is necessary to understand the statements, and the effect and the statements that were relied on have to be clear. Extrinsic...
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...spray out any excess repellent. Upon seeing this, John Ruth was certain that some of this paint had landed on her outdoor shower area which was located near her kitchen. John Ruth issued a notice that there had been a breach of Augusta Margaret River Shire Council local law that relates to the discharge of metals and metallic particles into soil, areas of vegetation, waterways, sewers, drains or similar areas. This law is followed by a significant fine of $3000. Daisy argues that the law does not apply when an insignificant amount of particles is discharged into a water storage container. The following provides an outline of relevant legal concepts and approaches to determine the validity of Daisy's argument. Statutory Interpretation Statutory interpretation is a method used by courts to interpret and apply legislation. It is necessary for legislations to have rules...
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...The various methods of statutory interpretation that have been developed by the courts over the years of the British Legal system are a common law concept. 1.0 Introduction Statutory interpretation is the process the courts interpret and apply the passed Acts of Parliament. The courts must do this as when a case involves a statute, mainly because some statutes have a plain and straightforward meaning. And there usually is ambiguity and vagueness within the words of the statute and it is left to the judge for the matter to be resolved. 2.0 Some of the methods of statutory interpreation that we will reveal and discuss are the Literal Rule, Golden Rule, Mischief Rule and also anylase the Purposive Approach used by the courts of United kingdom and other countries who have adapted to the Laws of United Kingdom. 2.1 The Literal Rule During the 18th and 19th centuries the court started to take more of a literal approach within their courts they took a strict view of the words of a statute. If the case before them was not precisely covered they were not prepared to countenance any alteration of the statutory language. An example of this is: “Whiteley v Chappell (1868) LR 4 QB 147. In this case, the defendant pretended to be someone who had recently died in order to use that person’s vote. It was an offence to ‘personate any person entitled to vote.’ As dead people cannot vote, the defendant was held not to have committed an offence. The Defendant had voted using a dead person’s...
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...Chapter 3: Principles of Statutory Interpretation 3.1: The Literal Rule "If the precise words used are plain and unambiguous, in our judgment we are bound to construe them in their ordinary sense, even though it does lead to an absurdity or manifest injustice"- Jervis CJ in Abley v. Dale 1851. The literal rule means the interpretation of Acts purely according to their literal meaning; it has fallen out of favour since the 19th Century. The literal rule of statutory interpretation says that words in a statute should be given their ordinary, literal meaning, no matter how absurd the result . An example of this rule can be seen in IRC v Hinchy (1960), in which the House of Lords was considering the effect of the Income Tax Act 1952. Section 25 of the ITA stated that any tax avoider should pay a £20 fine and ‘treble the tax which he ought to be charged under this Act’. Hinchy’s lawyers argued that this meant a £20 fine and treble the amount of tax which had been avoided. Unfortunately for Hinchy, the House of Lords decided that the literal meaning of ‘treble the tax which he ought to be charged under this Act’ was that a tax avoider should pay a£20 fine and treble his whole tax bill for the year. The outcome of the case was that Hinchy had to pay £438, even though the amount he had avoided was only £14.It is almost certain that the meaning applied by the House of Lords was not what Parliament had in mind when the Income Tax Act 1952 was passed. The statute was badly worded. The...
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...ANALYSIS OF SKETCH OF A THEORY OF STATUTORY INTERPRETATION: JIM EVANS TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary 3 History 4 Legislative Meaning 5 Analysis 6 Objective of the Author 6 The two prongs of interpretation 6 The meaning of the enactment 6 Legislative intent and its scope 8 Exceptions and side constraints as implications of legislative will 10 Conclusion 11 Sketch of a Theory of Statutory Interpretation: Jim Evans Summary In this article the author advocates his belief that statutory interpretation should be determined not only by an interpreter's understanding of the meaning of the legislature, but also by his understanding of the will of the legislature. By the will of the legislature the author means the practical judgment or decision that a certain rule should be part of the law, not the further purpose that the legislature may hope to achieve by that, which may be described as the meaning of the legislature. Sometimes these two sources of understanding pull in different directions, or conflict each other. The author then postulates that respect for the meaning intended by the legislature and respect for the will of the legislature are two different things. He clarifies however, that this does not imply that they always lead in different directions, and in fact, in most cases they work together for two reasons. Firstly, the statute will almost always accurately express the will of the legislature for most cases, unless there has been...
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...Statutory interpretation is process of interpreting statutes by the judges. The definition of statutes have had very specific words but indeed the judges would still need the statutory interpretation to help them. The reason of this, even how, the words in the statutes are specific but sometimes the words contains ambiguity and vagueness in words. On top of that, each word could give us different meaning. For example, we can find in the Oxford Dictionary where a word would contain at least one meaning. Hence, without the statutory interpretation, a lot of judges would have trouble in deciding their judgments in deciding a case. This essay will analyse the four rules, intrinsic aids and extrinsic aids and presumptions in the interpretation of statutes. There are four different rules of interpretation in English law which are the literal rule, the golden rule, the mischief rule and the purposive rule/approach. Each rule take different approaches and some judges prefer to use one rule while other judges prefer another rule. Traditionally, the English courts have taken a literal approach to the interpretation of statutes. The Literal Rule is the cornerstone of this approach. The literal rule requires the courts to give the words of a statute their plain meaning. It is for a court to interpret Parliament’s intention from what it has actually said – not from what it thinks it meant to say. This can produce some surprising results as, in practice, words seldom have a single plain...
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...SAFETY & ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LAW 265 Semester 1 2015 Additional Information 4 step examples of Statutory Interpretation Question Assume that research has shown that a person using a mobile phone while driving has a 25% higher chance of having a road accident. The W.A Parliament passes a law called the Use of Mobile Phones and Other Electronic Devices Act 2013 W.A. Section 14 of the Act says: Section 14. ‘No person shall talk on a mobile phone when driving a motorcar, truck, motorcycle or similar vehicle’ Django is charged with a breach of section 14. While riding his bicycle to university one day he was listening to his girlfriend who had rung him on his mobile phone to tell him about her day. He argues: 1. He was not talking on his mobile phone 2. He is not driving a motorcar, truck, motorcycle or similar vehicle Using the rules of statutory interpretation and the four-step process, explain to Django whether he is breach of section 14 by discussing each of his arguments in turn. Step 1 Area of Law: Common law rules of statutory interpretation Step 2 Principles of Law: Students should discuss: Literal approach – define it. IRC v Hinchy and other cases Golden Rule – define it Alder v George and other cases Mischief rule – define it Smith v Hughes and other cases The Ejusdem Generis rule-define it Hy Whittle Ltd v Stalybridge Corp and other cases Step 3 Application of the Law: If the literal rule was applied, this would be the answer If the golden...
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...Critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of precedent and statutory interpretation in the UK’s legal systems The doctrine of precedent arises (stare decisis) from the common law implementation in UK courts. This goes back to King’s Henri II (the King’s Bench) whereby past decisions were dispensed throughout the kingdom. The reasons and main advantages of the same are to ensure consistency/uniformity and predictability, thus creating confidence in the legal system. The stare decisis (stand by what is decided) enacts the requirement on the courts to follow/abide by the previous rationes decidendi of previous cases. Mainly, the lower courts will abide by precedent decisions due to the hierarchy invested therein (Binding precedent). In 1966, the House of Lords (now known as UK Supreme Court) referred to the doctrine of precedent as “…an indispensable foundation upon which to decide the law and its application to individual cases. It provides at least some degree of certainty upon which individuals can rely in the conduct of their affairs, as well as a basis for the orderly development of legal rules”. However, the House of Lords advised that: “…that too rigid adherence to precedent may lead to injustice in a particular case and also unduly restrict the proper development of the law. They propose, therefore, to modify their present practice and, while treating former decisions of this House as normally binding, to depart from a previous decision when it appears...
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...Unit 1 – Section A - Statutory Interpretation Approaches to Interpretation The Literal Rule Under this rule, the courts will give words their plain, ordinary or literal meaning, even if the result is not very sensible. “If the words in an act are clear, then you must follow them even though they lead to a manifest absurdity.” (R v Judge of the City of London Court) Examples: (Whiteley v Chapel) – D charged under a section which made it an offence to impersonate any person entitled to vote. D impersonated someone who was on voting list but was deceased. D was not guilty as the person is dead they are not literally entitled to vote. (London and North Eastern Railways Co v Berriman) – Unable to claim when husband was killed whilst carrying out maintenance work oiling railway track. Statue said a look out should be provided when relaying or repairing the track. Words relaying and rapairing were given the literal meaning and didn’t cover maintenance. The Golden Rule It takes the literal meaning but the court is allowed to avoid interpretation which would lead to an absurd result. There are 2 views on how the golden rule should be used 1) the narrow application and 2) the wider application 1) Narrow application – if a word has more than one meaning, you can choose between them In Jones v DPP if a word had more than one meaning “You can choose between those meanings but beyond this you cannot go”. Examples: (R v Allen) – Example of narrow application Was a bigamist...
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...The literal rule of statutory interpretation should be the first rule applied by judges. Under the literal rule, the words of the statute are given their natural or ordinary meaning. They don’t interpret meaning. Lord Diplock in the Duport Steel v Sirs case (1980) defined the rule: “Where the meaning of the statutory words is plain and unambiguous it is not then for the judges to invent fancied ambiguities as an excuse for failing to give effect to it’s plain meaning because they consider the consequences for doing so would be inexpedient, or even unjust or immoral.” This definition says that a judge should not deviate from the literal meaning of the words even if the outcome is unjust. If they do they are creating their own version of how the case should turn out and the will of parliament is contradicted. R v Harris (1836) 7 C & P 446 concerned a case where the defendant bit off his victim's nose. The statute made it an offence 'to stab cut or wound' the court held that under the literal rule the act of biting did not come within the meaning of stab cut or wound as these words implied an instrument had to be used. Therefore the defendant's conviction was quashed. The golden rule is an exception to the literal rule and will be used where the literal should be used first, but if it results in absurdity, the grammatical and ordinary sense of the words may be modified, so as to avoid absurdity and inconsistency, but no further. So, The Golden Rule is a modification of The...
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...certiorari to quash the decision that the application was invalid, and a writ of mandamus issue to the respondent to determine the application according to law. We are today to discuss the justification of Smith FM and the implication of the case in terms of valid visa application, which will mainly focus on ‘statutory interpretation of law’ and ‘the rule of precedence’. The critical point in the case was, to be considered as a valid application, whether the law requires Form 1277 be submitted at the time of application was lodged. No indication in the legislation that the physical delivery of the approved form of undertakings of the sponsorship to the Minister was expected to occur no later than the lodgement of visa application, but only requires that it be given to the Minister before approval. Smith FM concluded that terms such as ‘sponsorship’ and ‘sponsorship entered into on Form 1277’, their meanings are no more and no less than what they are, not in the sense of ‘legally effective’. This reflects the implementation of the Literal Rule, which requires the interpretation of the law give the words meaning in plain ordinary literal meaning, rather than inferred interpretation. This is also reflected in Smith FM’s comments that there is no requirement of ‘contemporaneous delivery to the Minister’ in the express language of item 1136, while indications are commonly added to other visa criterion, that “the application is accompanied by evidence…”, expressly requiring forms or...
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...of the Law Lords to statutory interpretation has been radically changed by the Human Rights Act. Judges now see themselves as legislating human rights through their interpretation of Acts of Parliament.’ Student Number: 111244061 Candidate Number: 56307 In the English legal system, Statutory interpretation is seen as the way by which judges give meaning to the statutes by the parliament. Even though Judges have a wider choice of options in interpreting statues, the situation is now different after UK’s membership of the European Union (EU) through the European Communities Act (ECA) 1972 and after the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998. Judges are now bound to interpret the statues in such a way that is compatible with the provisions of EU law according to Sec 2(4) of ECA 1972 and also should give effect to the spirit of the conventions as required in Sec 3 of HRA 1998. Convention jurisprudence now has an significant and straight role to play in statutory interpretation due to section 3 of HRA 1998. The Convention confers a huge number of fundamental rights, including the right to life, the right to liberty and security, and so on. The United Kingdom became a participant to the Convention many years ago but Parliament did not cope with domestic law until 1998, when the Human Rights Act was passed. So the Convention was not, prior to that Act, directly related to statutory interpretation. It could not be a...
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...should be provided for men working on or near the railway line for the purpose of RELAYING OR REPAIRING it.’ The company was found not liable for not providing a lookout man, due to the fact he wasn’t ‘relaying/repairing’ the track, he was only doing ‘maintenance’. Professor Michael Zander described the Literal Rule as this: ‘The literal rule is mechanical and divorced from the realities of the use of language’. The Golden Rule: The Golden Rule is a modification of the Literal Rule. The Judge starts by looking at the Literal Rule, and if that leads to an absurd result, then the court can avoid that interpretation. There are two variations of the Golden Rule, the first one being the ‘Narrow Application’ which is the words of Lord Reid said: ‘It is a cardinal principle applicable to all kinds of statutes that you may not for any reason attach to a statutory provision, a meaning which the words of the provision cannot reasonably bear. If they are capable of more than one meaning, then you can choose between those...
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...What is Statutory Interpretations? Statutory Interpretations is the process by which Judges interpret Acts of Parliament. 75% of cases heard by the House of Lords are concerned with statutory interpretation. Statutory Interpretation is the process of reading and applying statutory laws, and judges trying to find out the intention of parliament when passing the law. Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and straightforward meaning. But in most cases, there is some ambiguity (can be interpreted in more than one way) or vagueness (unclear) in the words of the statute that must be resolved by the judge. An example of where the language was unclear can be seen in the case of Twining v Myers (1982), where court has to decide whether roller skates amounted to a ‘vehicle’. There may be other cases where the meaning of words change over time, for example the Offences Against a Persons Act 1861 uses the word “malicious” and “grievous” which either would not be used in this modern day and time, or if used have different meanings to which was intended when the Drafts Man of the act write it. Other means of when Statutory interpretations would be needed is when Drafting errors are present in the bill, this happens mostly when bills are rushed in times of emergency. Problems of interpreting statutes? The problems with interpreting statues is that Judges have to decide what parliament meant by a particular piece of legislation. In most cases judges correctly judge of what the intentions...
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