Literal Rule

Question 1

Under the literal rule what will courts do?

Answer 1

they will give words their plain, ordinary or literal meaning even if the result is not very sensible

Question 2

Which Lord expressed the idea of the literal rule?

Answer 2

Lord Esher

Question 3

In what case did Lord Esher express the idea of the literal rule?

Answer 3

in R v Judge of the City of London Court 1892

Question 4

When was the literal rule developed?

Answer 4

19th century

Question 5

What was the main rule in the 20th century?

Answer 5

the literal rule

Question 6

What often happened in old cases when the literal rule was used?

Answer 6

it could lead to absurd decisions or to possible injustice

Question 7

What are the 2 example cases of the literal rule?

Answer 7

• Whiteley v Chappell 1868
• London & North Eastern Railway Co. V Berriman 1946

(L&NERC v Berriman)

Question 8

In Whiteley v Chappell 1868 what was the defendant charged with?

Answer 8

charged under a section which made it an office to impersonate ‘any person entitled to vote’

Question 9

What did the defendant do in Whiteley v Chappell 1868?

Answer 9

the defendant had pretended to be a person whose name was on the voters’ list but who had died

Question 10

What was the outcome of the case Whiteley v Chappell 1868?

Answer 10

the court held that the defendant was not guilty since a dead person, is not, in the literal meaning of the words ‘entitled to vote’

Question 11

Was the outcome of the use of the literal rule just in Whiteley v Chappell ?

Answer 11

the literal rule in this case made the law absurd

Question 12

What was the facts of the case London & North Eastern Railway Co. V Berriman 1946?

Answer 12

A railway worker was killed while doing maintenance work. His widow tried to claim compensation because there had not been a look out man provide by the railway company in accordance with a regulation under the Fatal Accidents Act

Question 13

What did the Fatal Accidents Act state , which was the Act used in London & North Eastern Railway Co. V Berriman 1946?

Answer 13

stated that a lookout should be provided for men working on or near the railway line ‘for the purposes of relaying or repairing’ it.

Question 14

What were the words in dispute in London & North Eastern Railway Co. v Berriman 1946 ?

Answer 14

‘relaying’ and ‘repairing’

Question 15

Why did Mrs Berriman’s claim fail?

Answer 15

as the courts took ‘relaying’ and ‘repairing’ in their literal meaning and said that oiling points was maintaining the line not relaying or repairing

Question 16

Was the use of the literal rule in London & North Eastern Railway CO. Bremen 1946 just?

Answer 16

the rule led to a harsh an unjust decision

Question 17

How is the literal rule important in supporting Parliamentary Sovereignty ?

Answer 17

as Parliament is our law making body and it is right that judges should apply the law exactly as it is written

Question 18

What does using the literal rule prevent ?

Answer 18

it prevents unelected judges from making law

Question 19

How does using the literal rule make the law more certain?

Answer 19

as it should be interpreted exactly as it is written

Question 20

What is a positive effect of having certainty from the literal rule?

Answer 20

this makes it easier for people to know what the law is and how judges will apply it

Question 21

What does the literal rule assume which is a key disadvantage?

Answer 21

that every Act will be perfectly drafted

Question 22

What case illustrates the fact that every Act is not perfectly drafted and so an Act cannot cover every situation ?

Answer 22

Whiteley v Chappell 1868

Question 23

How is the use of the literal rule hard to do with some words?

Answer 23

some words have more than one meaning, often in dictionaries words are defined with several different meanings

Question 24

What case illustrates that following the words of an Act exactly can lead to unfair or unjust decisions?

Answer 24

London & North Eastern Railways Co. v Berriman 1946

Question 25

What professor has denounced the literal rule as being mechanical and divorced from the realities of the use of language?

Answer 25

Michael Zander

Question 26

What did Professor Michael Zander say about the literal rule?

Answer 26

that it is mechanical and divorced from the realities of the use of the language