Paper 2.3 - Statutory Interpretation Flashcards
What is statutory interpretation?
How judges consider a Parliamentary Act when deciding on a verdict or sentence.
What are the four methods of statutory interpretation?
Literal rule
Golden rule
Mischief rule
Purposive approach.
What is the literal rule?
The judge uses the ‘plain and ordinary’ definition of the statute, even if it leads to absurdity. This usually involves getting a dictionary from when the statute was made.
Name two cases that relate to the literal rule.
Berriman (1946)
V’s wife is not reimbursed when V is killed by a train during track maintenance; the statute stated he must be ‘repairing or relaying’ the track.
AND
Cheeseman (1991)
D is not convicted of public masturbation because no ‘passenger’ expressed ‘annoyance’; he was arrested by officers upon them witnessing it.
Name four advantages to the literal rule.
Judges are respecting Parliament sovereignty.
Plain & ordinary meaning leads to certainty.
Quickest and easiest rule to apply.
Less room for error for judges.
Name four disadvantages for the literal rule.
Can easily lead to absurdity and injustice (Berriman).
Prevents judges to develop law with society (Cheeseman).
Assumes Acts are error free.
Old fashioned approach that doesn’t consider Parliament intent.
What is the golden rule?
Use the plain and ordinary definition unless it leads to absurdity; definitions can be extended or changed.
What are the two approaches within the golden rule?
Narrow and wide.
What is the narrow approach in terms of the golden rule and what case relates to this?
A word in the Act has its meaning extended.
Allen (1872)
D attempts to marry a woman while already married, which automatically invalidates the marriage therefore he cannot commit bigamy (being married twice); judge extends the meaning of ‘marriage’ to going through a marriage ceremony and convicts D regardless.
What is the wide approach in terms of the golden rule and what case relates to this?
A word in the Act has its meaning modified.
Sigsworth (1935)
D murders his mother, who doesn’t have a will; next of kin is modified to prevent D from benefitting from his murder.
Name four advantages to the golden rule.
More flexible than literal rule.
Effective at preventing absurdity (Sigsworth).
Judges have little power to stray from statute.
Quick and easy to apply.
Name four disadvantages to the golden rule.
Judges may have to uphold faulty laws.
Judges can edit the law to convict / acquit D.
Rarely used - legal academics: ‘feeble parachute’.
Absurdity is still undefined.
What is the mischief rule and what case does it originate from?
Judges believe that the Act does not cover the case at hand and intend to create precedent.
From Heydon’s case (1584).
What are the four question components of the mischief rule?
What was the common law before the Act?
What is the mischief that the common law failed to address?
What remedy did the Act put in place to fix it?
What was the reason for this remedy?
What happens in the case of Smith vs Hughes, the case example for the mischief rule?
6 prostitutes are found guilty of prostitution for harassing men from a balcony; despite being in a private place, the judge employed the mischief rule to prevent harassment to men on the street.
