Rules of statutory interpretation

Question 1

What is statutory interpretation? Who is this a task for?

Answer 1

Statutory interpretation is working out what Parliament meant by the words it enacted in any piece of legislation.

• task for judges
• lawyers need to be familiar with principles so they can advise clients on how a judge may read a stature

Question 2

What is the literal rule?

Answer 2

• The words used in a statute are to be given their ordinary, plain and natural meaning and the courts will not need to consider what Parliament might have meant.
• The literal rule will require an in-depth consideration of the words and phrases of the statute and how they fit in with neighbouring sections and the Act as a whole.

Question 3

What is the golden rule?

Answer 3

The golden rule is taking the whole of the statute together, and construe it all together, giving the words their ordinary signification, unless when so applied they produce an inconsistency, or an absurdity or inconvenience so great as to convince the court that the intention could not have been to use them in their ordinary signification, and to justify the court in putting on them some other signification.

Question 4

What is the mischief rule?

Answer 4

• The oldest of the “rules”, pre-dating the rise of Parliament and modern legislation, the mischief rule examines the original purpose of the particular provision under consideration

Question 5

Do the judges use the mischief rule now?

Answer 5

No - it is defunct and is now subsumed into the purposive rule

Question 6

What is the purposive rule?

Answer 6

Look at the purpose of the statue over all before looking at the overall meaning

Question 7

Which rule most accurately reflects how judges approach their interpretive task?

Answer 7

The purposive rule

Question 8

What is the contemporary approach?

Answer 8

unified contextual approach - consider both literal and purposive
- “it is now possible to say that the purposive interpretation will generally prevail where it provides a clear answer, but that otherwise the strict meaning will have to prevail, even if the court is uncomfortable with the result”

Question 9

What are linguistic presumptions?

Answer 9

the courts will also apply certain linguistic presumptions to assist them in interpreting the meaning, and therefore the proper application, of legislation.

Question 10

What is the linguistic presumption of Expressio Unius est Exclusio Alterius?

Answer 10

This rule means that the express mention of one thing excludes its extension to others.

• The presumption is that such a list is a closed list and Parliament intended only to include those items that are stated.
• e.g. InTempest v Kilner (1846) 3 CB 249, the Statute of Frauds 1677 required that sale of ‘goods, wares and merchandise’ over £10 in value must be evidenced in writing. The question for the court was whether stocks and shares came within this definition. As only those three types of transaction were mentioned, the court held that only those three transactions were covered; shares were not.

Question 11

What is the linguistic presumption of Ejusdem generis?

Answer 11

Ejusdem generis means ‘of the same kind’ or ‘genus’

• The presumption is that, where general words follow a list of specific words, the general words are interpreted so as to restrict them to the same kind of objects as the specific words. So it is necessary to look at the specific words and see what characteristics they have in common. The general words must then include only words with these characteristics
• e.g. InPowell v Kempton Park Racecourse [1899] AC 143, a person was betting in Tattersall’s Ring, and the Betting Act 1853 arose for consideration. The House of Lords held that the specific words, ‘house, office, room’ were all indoors; and so the general words ‘other place’ would be taken to refer only to indoor areas. As Tattersall’s Ring was an open area at Kempton Park Racecourse, the defendant did not commit an offence under the Act.

Question 12

When is Ejusdem generis employed?

Answer 12

It is employed when a statute includes a generic but non-exhaustive list of items, and the interpretative task is to work out whether a particular item would fall within the list.

Question 13

What is the linguistic presumption of Noscitur a Sociis?

Answer 13

This rule states that a word is known by the company it keeps.

• Words of a statute are understood in the context of the statute itself. This could be any part of the statute, not merely the section under consideration.
• e.g. InInland Revenue Commissioners v Frere [1965] AC 402, the House of Lords considered the phrase ‘interest, annuities and other annual payments’, contained in s. 169 Income Tax Act 1952. The word ‘other’ at the end of the phrase implied that the first two words (interest and annuities) were also annual. Therefore, the word ‘interest’ was held to mean ‘annual interest’.