Statutory Interpretation

Question 1

What is statutory interpretation?

Answer 1

Whereby a judge interprets the meaning of a statute and applies the law to the case before them.

Question 2

What are the rules and approaches for statutory interpretation?

Answer 2

• Literal rule
• Golden rule
• Mischief rule
• Purposive approach

Question 3

What is the literal rule?

Answer 3

• Courts give their plain, ordinary, or literal meaning, even if the results aren’t very sensible.
• Traditional approach
• Idea expressed by Lord Esher in R v Judge of City of London Court (1892)

Question 4

What is the golden rule?

Answer 4

• Modification of literal rule
• Court is allowed to avoid an interpretation which would lead to an absurd result.
• Two views on how golden rule should be used: narrow and wide approach

Question 5

What is the golden rule - wide approach?

Answer 5

• Words have one clear meaning, but that meaning would lead to an objectionable situation.
• If court feels using the clear meaning would produce a result which shouldn’t be allowed- court can use golden rule to modify the words of the statute to avoid this problem.

Question 6

What is the mischief rule?

Answer 6

• Definition comes from Heydon’s case (1584) with four points to consider:
  1) What was the common law before the making of the act?
  2) What was the mischief and defect for which the common law didn’t provide?
  3) What was the remedy of parliament hath resolved and appointed to cure disease of the commonwealth?
  4) True reason of remedy

Question 7

What is the purposive approach?

Answer 7

• Judges are deciding what they believe parliament meant to achieve.
• Looks at the spirit, rather than the stirct letter of the law.
• Can mitigate the strictness of literal rule and allows more flexibility.
• Develops mischief rule and is favoured by more progressive judges.

Question 8

What are internal/intrinsic aids and what do they consist of?

Answer 8

Internal aids are those contained in the statute itself and consist of:
- long title- wording at start of a bill that begins ‘a bill too…’ then lists its purposes.
- explanatory notes- text created by gov department, responsible for subject matter of act to explain what act sets out to achieve.
- preamble- appears immediately after long title, states reasons for and the intended effects of proposed legislation.
- glossary- guide to meaning of certain legal expressions.

Question 9

What are external/extrinsic aids and what do they consist of?

Answer 9

External aids are contained outside of statute and consist of:
- previous acts- must be on same topic that is being interpreted.
- historical setting- judges take into consideration the historical setting at the time, when act was created.
- case law- judges can look into previous cases to see if case facts are similar and use this as guidance for own case.
- dictionaries- have to be published at time act was passed. shown in case of Cheeseman.

Question 10

Which 3 extrinsic aids, which were originally not considered and now used?

Answer 10

• Hansard- original report from Parliament when act was debated.
• Reform of law bodies such as the Law Commission.
• International conventions, regualtions or directives which have been implemented by English Legislation.

Question 11

When can Hansard be used?

Answer 11

• When words of an act are ambiguous, obscure or lead to an absurdity.
• Only used if there was a clear statement by minister, that resolves ambiguity or absurdity.

Question 12

Why can reports of Law Reform be used?

Answer 12

To discover mischief or a gap in law, which legislation based on report was designed to deal with.

Question 13

What are the effects of the EU on law?

Answer 13

• purposive approach preferred by most European countries when interpreting their own legislation.
• approach adopted by European Court of Justice and judges are now accustomed to using it.
• Judges have used purposive approach for EU law for over 40 years- more likely to apply it to English Law.

Question 14

What are the effects of the Human Rights Act? (1998)

Answer 14

• resignation must be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with rights in the European convention of Human Rights.
• applies to any case where one of rights is concerned, doesn’t apply where there is no involvement in human rights.

Question 15

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the literal rule?

Answer 15

Advantages:
- prevents unelected judges from creating new laws.
- follows words parliament has used, protects parliamentary sovereignty.

Disadvantages:
- not all acts are perfectly drafted, not always possible to word an act so it covers every situation parliament meant, e.g. Fisher v Bell
- words may have more than one meaning.

Question 16

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the golden rule?

Answer 16

Advantages:
- when there is a problem with literal rule, this acts as an ‘escape route’
- allows judges to choose most sensible meaning of word.

Disadvantages:
- not possible to predict when court uses golden rule
- judges have no power to intervene for pure injustice where there is no absurdity, e.g. Adler v George

Question 17

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Mischief rule?

Answer 17

Advantages:
- allows judges to look to fill in gaps in law.
- more likely to produce a ‘just’ result

Disadvantages:
- gives judges a law-making role- infringing separation of powers
- judges can bring their own views, sense of morality and prejudices. seen in Smith v Hughes.

Question 18

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Purposive approach?

Answer 18

Advantages:
- leads to justice in individual cases.
- allows law to develop to cover advances in medical science. e.g. R v Registar General, ex large smith

Disadvantages:
- can be difficult to understand parliament’s original intentions.
- judges given too much power to develop law and ursuping power of parliament.