Literal Rule Flashcards
Whitely v Chapell (1868)
The defendant was charged under a section which made it an offence to impersonate ‘any person entitled to vote’. The defendant had pretended to be a person whose name was on the voters’ list, but who had died. 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’.
Using the literal rule in this case resulted in an absurd decision.
LNER V Berriman (1946)
A railway worker was killed while doing maintenance work, oiling the railway line. His widow tried to claim compensation because they had not been a look-out provided by the railway company in accordance with a regulation under
the fatal accidents Act which stated that a look-out should be provided for men working on or near the railway line ‘ for the purposes of relating or repairing’ it. The court took the words ‘relaying’ and ‘repairing’ in their literal meaning and said oiling points was maintaining the line and not delaying or repairing so that Mrs Berriman’s claim failed.
Fisher v Bell
The defendant had a flick knife displayed in his shop window with a price tag on it. Statute made it a criminal offence to ‘offer’ such flick knives for sale. His conviction was quashed as goods on display in shops are not ‘offers’ in the technical sense but an invitation to treat. The court applied the literal rule of statutory interpretation.
R v Harris
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.
Cheeseman v dpp
Police officers witnessed a man masturbating in a public toilet. ◦ Town Police Clauses Act 1847 made it an offence to do so in front of “passengers” on the street
