Statutory interpretation Flashcards
What is statutory interpretation
- Parliament makes the law/statute, judges interpret and help apply it in real life
- ## Montesquieu - separation of powers - legislative (parliament), executive (government & queen), judiciary
Challenges of interpreting statutes
- idea to codify and make the law clear but language is imperfect and can lead to areas of conflict
- ## interpretation of words and how their meanings can change over time - ‘family’
Who else apart from judges interpret and apply statutes
- police mainly especially in the application of police discretion
- also ministers and even companies
What is the literal rule of statutory interpretation
Words if clear must be given their plain, ordinary and literal meaning
- they are the literal representation of parliament and so there is no need to look elsewhere to infer a meaning
- Sussex peerage case 1844
- Duport Steel v Sirs 1980
- good and crazy examples to help understand - R v Harris 1836 (teeth), Fisher v bell 1961 (flick knife), Whiteley v Chappell 1868 (dead vote)
- and more cases on slide 64
What are the advantages of literal rule interpretation
- restricts the roles of unelected judges
- Upholds separation of powers
- Recognises parliament as the supreme law maker
- requires parliament to correct absurdities
what are the disadvantages of literal rule interpretation
- Disagreements within the ordinary meaning of the word
- leave room for loopholes in the law
- can lead to injustices, awkward precedents
- undermine public confidence in the law
- Zander - mechanical and divorced from the realities of language
What is the golden rule of statutory interpretation
Words must be given their plain, ordinary and literal meaning as far as possible unless if they are absurd or against public policy
- adaption to the literal rule
- not going outside or beyond the statute, but can correct absurdities - Mattison v Hart, Grey v Pearson
Stock v Frank Jones (Tipton) Ltd - Lord Simon advocates departure from literal rule only when:
- there is a clear and gross anomaly
- parliament could not have accepted the anomaly if it knew of it
- The anomaly can be avoided without affecting legislative intent
- language of the statute allows for such modification
What is the mischief rule of statutory interpretation
Involves an examination of the former law in an attempt to deduce parliament’s intention - harm or wrong parliament intended to correct
- mischief means the wrong or harm
- what was the problem to overcome
Heydan’s case 1584 asks 4 key questions:
- what was the common law before making the act
- what was the mischief or defect which the law did not provide
- what was the remedy proposed by parliament to rectify this
- what was the true reason for that remedy
What is the purposive approach to statutory interpretation
seek an interpretation of the law giving effect to its general purpose
- extends mischief rule - not just about looking at the gap in the old law but also judges deciding what parliament meant to achieve beyond the legislation
- Advocated by Lord Denning - Magor and St Mellans v Newport Corporation, Bulmer v Bollinger
- later criticised in House of Lords (In the Magor case)
Teleological approach
Requires that the spirit of the legislation, rather then its mere purpose, is considered
- much broader than the purposive approach
- EU law often drafted in a terms of general principles - priable nature across different legal systems
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What intrinsic aids can you find in statutes relevant to statutory interpretation
Short title – descriptive only
Long title – where there is ambiguity in the body of the act
Preamble – of limited use in contemporary Acts
Marginal notes - inserted after a Bill has become law, not voted on
by Parliament
Punctuation
Examples – of how the Act might work; terminology employed
Schedules – interpretation and definitional sections that are highly
persuasive. Spell out how provisions may work in practice.
What extrinsic aids can you find in statutes relevant to statutory interpretation
- Academic writing – e.g. Smith and Hogan’s criminal law
Law Commission reports
Case law from other jurisdictions
Dictionaries
The Interpretation Act 1978 - Words in singular include plural, Masculine gender words include feminine, vice versa, Distance is measurement in a straight line
Hansard – official record and transcript of debates in Houses of Parliament - Pepper v Hart – Permits use of Hansard where (i) legislation is ambiguous or obscure; (ii) material relied on consists of
statements by Minister or promoter of the Bill; (iii) statements relied upon must be clear
Legal presumptions
Against alteration of the common law - Parliament can change existing common law through an Act, but an intention to do so cannot be implied by the courts
Against retrospective operation of statute - –meaning u Cannot backdate liability – e.g., criminal offences which were lawful before an Act was passed
Against deprivation of liberty unless there are clear words from Parliament to the effect it should interfere with individual liberty
Against deprivation of property or private rights
Against binding the Crown - Except where expressly stated
Against ousting the jurisdiction of the courts
Against criminal liability without mens rea
Rules of Language statutory interpretation (latin)
Ejusdem generis - ‘of or as the same kind’
- List of items and other - court has to decide what other is
Noscitur a soclis - ‘it is known by the company it keeps’
- Looking at the term in question in other parts of the act
Expression unius est exclusion alterius - ‘the express mention of one thing excludes another’
- statute applies only to that mentioned
