2A - Statutory Interpretation - Case List

Question 1

Whiteley v Chappell

Answer 1

Brought into question whether a dead person was entitled to vote. He wasn’t guilty since a dead person isn’t ‘entitled to vote’

Question 2

LNER v Berriman

Answer 2

The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 states a lookout should be provided when ‘relaying or repairing’ the train track. The court held that since Berriman was oiling the track, not lookout was necessary and the widow wasn’t given compensation

Question 3

R v Allen

Answer 3

The D was convicted of bigamy and there are two definitions of marriage: it’s a legal contract and the marriage ceremony. The judge had to choose which definition was right

Question 4

Re Sigsworth

Answer 4

Son killed his mum who hadn’t written her will and he was names the next ‘issue’. The courts didn’t want to reward murder, denied him her estate

Question 5

RCN v DHSS

Answer 5

Were nurses licensed to carry out abortions now they can be done via medication

Question 6

Smith v Hughes

Answer 6

Women were soliciting by tapping on windows and calling up to balconies, brought into question whether a street or public place extended to these areas

Question 7

R v Registrar General, ex parte Smith

Answer 7

‘shall…supply’
Smith was adopted and resented it. He was also a patient at Broadmoor Mental Hospital. He killed two people believing one of them to be his adoptive mother. He was denied his birth certificate to find his birth mother as courts believe it would endanger his mums life

Question 8

Quintavalle

Answer 8

The HOL had to decide whether organisms created by cell nuclear replacement (CNR) come within the definition of ‘embryo’ in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990

Question 9

Pepper v Hart

Answer 9

The case that changed when Hansard could be used