Statutory Interpretation

Question 1

What are the four main sources of English Law

Answer 1

Case law, Uk legislation, Retained EU Law, ECHR

Question 2

What is the primary source of Law in England and Wales?

Answer 2

Statute

Question 3

Why do we need to interpret legislation?

Answer 3

to resolve ambiguities in order to find its true meaning

Question 4

why else do we need to interpret legislation?

Answer 4

to decide whether it applies to a particular set of facts

Question 5

what are the 3 main rules of statutory construction?

Answer 5

literal, golden, mischief

Question 6

What interpretative approach is used in the Quintavalle case?

Answer 6

the purposive approach- the aim of the Act was to protect embryos created outside of the human body

Question 7

describe the literal rule

Answer 7

words must be gievn their plain, ordinary and literal meaning

Question 8

what are the problems with the literal rule?

Answer 8

the use of the literal meaning of the words may defeat the intention of parliament and lead to absurd results

Question 9

What case exemplifies the problems with the literal rule?

Answer 9

Whitely v Chappell (1868) LR 4 QB 147

Question 10

what did Lord Esher state in 1982?

Answer 10

‘if the words of an Act are clear, then you must follow them even though they lead to a manifest absurdity’ (R v City of London Court Judge [1892] 1 QB 273, 290)

Question 11

what is the golden rule?

Answer 11

an adaptation of the literal rule- where there are two meaning to a word/words they should be given their ordinary meaning as far as possible , but only to the extent that they do not produce an absurd or totally obnoxious result

Question 12

what is the mischief rule?

Answer 12

requires the interpreter of the statute to ascertain the legislator’s intention

Question 13

what are the four stages of the test to determine what the defect in the existing law which the statute was intended to remedy?

Answer 13

a) what was the law before the statute was passed?
b) what was the ‘mischief and defect’ which was not remedied by the existing law?
c) what remedy did Parliament propose to put it right?
d) what is the true reason for the remedy?

Question 14

what is the purposive approach?

Answer 14

a modern style of interpreting statutes, the judges look at the reasons why a statute was passed and its purpose even if it means distorting the ordinary meaning of the words

Question 15

what was the purposive approach influenced by?

Answer 15

our membership of the EU as it is widely used in EU law which is drafted with the expectation that judges will consider the policy behind the words.

Question 16

what 3 things must a court be sure of before rectifying a statute?

Answer 16

1) of the intended purpose of the statue or provision;
2) that inadvertently the drafter and Parliament failed to give effect to that purpose in the provision in question; and 3) of the substance of the provision Parliament would have made, although not necessarily the precise words that Parliament would have used, had the error in the bill been noticed

Question 17

what is the European Communities Act 1972?

Answer 17

required UK courts to adopt a purposive approach in construing EU related legislation and in particular UK provisions that implemented EU law

Question 18

how is European Union legislation drafted?

Answer 18

follows civil law tradition favouring simplicity of drafting and a high degree of abstraction

Question 19

what does noscitur a sociis mean?

Answer 19

‘known by the company it keeps’- recognition by associated words, a word derives meaning from surrounding words

Question 20

which Act was noscitur a sociis used to assist in?

Answer 20

Factories Act 1962- required that all ‘floors, steps, stairs, passageways and gangways’ had to be free of obstruction

Question 21

what is eiusdem generis

Answer 21

of the same kind or nature- if a general word follows two or more specific words, that general word will only apply to items of the same type as specific words

Question 22

what does expressio unius est exlusio alterius mean?

Answer 22

‘to express one is to exclude others’- mention of one or more specific things may be taken to exclude others of the same type

Question 23

what are the two types of aids to interpretation

Answer 23

intrinsic and extrinsic

Question 24

what is an intrinsic aid

Answer 24

the use of the statute itself incl. any words which have been debated by Parliament and are thus part of the statute

Question 24

what is an extrinsic aid

Answer 24

aids outside of the statute itself e.g. interpretation acts, dictionaries, other statutes, hansard

Question 25

what is hansard

Answer 25

a substantially verbatim report of what is said in Parliament