Stat Interpretation (Criminal) Flashcards
What is the Golden Wide Rule?
When words in a rule only have one meaning but it leads to an absurd outcome so the rule is used to avoid that.
What is the Golden Narrow Rule?
When a word has more than one meaning and the Court is allowed to choose whichever meaning to follow
What is the Literal Rule?
The Judge must words in the Act must be given their literal and ordinary meaning and must not be changed.
What is the Mischief Rule?
The Judge reads the Act intending to discover what mischief the Act was made to solve and the best way to remedy that mischief
What is the case for the Golden Narrow Rule?
R V Allen:
The case involved the word ‘marry’ in the case of bigamy, which was decided to have two meanings: ‘to be legally married to someone’ or ‘to have a marriage ceremony’ - bigamy would’ve been impossible given the first meaning so the judge chose the second meaning to ensure Allen was guilty
What is the Purposive Rule?
The Judge reads the Act in order to understand the general purpose rather than just the ‘Mischief’
What is the case for the Mischief Rule?
Smith v Hughes: Prostitutes harassing men walking in the street but they weren’t literally “on the street” - the mischief was harassments and to stop solicitation
What is the case for the Purposive Rule?
Royal College of Nurses v DHSS:
What is the case for the Golden Wide Rule?
Re Sigsworth - son killed his mother, no other inheritors of her assets except him, judge was given freedom to avoid an absurd outcome
What is the case for the Literal Rule?
Cheeseman v DPP: Man masturbating in public, was only an offence if he was exposed to “passengers” so they had to be on the move which the police officers weren’t
What does the judge do if they don’t know the meaning of a word?
Use a dictionary of the same year the act was published
What are Internal Aids and examples?
Things that help the judge: Title and summary of the Act
What are External Aids and examples?
Things that help the judge which aren’t from the Act: Hansard, dictionary, case law from other places
Advantages of Literal Rule?
Respects Parliamentary sovereignty, easy to use
Disadvantages of Literal Rule?
Can lead to absurd outcome, words can have multiple meanings, can be rigid and inflexible
