Statutory interpretation Flashcards
What is statutory interpretation
Where judges give meaning to words of an act of parliament when they are delivering a judgement in court
What must judges find and declare
They must find the correct law and declare it as written by parliament however they can determine the correct meaning
What are the 4 rules
Literal, golden, mischief, purposive
What is the literal rule
Judge reads the statute as a whole and puts the words into context using their plain, ordinary, grammatical meaning regardless of what the outcome is
What did lord ester state about the literal rule
‘if the words of the act are clear then you must follow them even if they lead to a manifest absurdity’
What are the two cases that are examples of the literal rule
Fisher v Bell
Whitely v Chappel
What happened in Whitley v Chappel
D charged under the Act when it made it
an offence to impersonate someone
‘entitled to vote’. D impersonated a dead
man and argued that the dead man was
not ‘entitled to vote’. Court held D was not guilty as the literal
meaning of the words were applied.
What happened in Fisher v Bell
Shopkeeper displayed a flick knife displayed in his shop with a price tag on it. The Restrictions of Offensive Weapons
Act 1969 made it an offence to ‘offer’ such flick knives for safe. Under contract law, goods displayed in shops are not ‘offers’ but ’invitations to treat’. Court held that D was not guilty as literal rule applied to the offence and shop keeper has not committed an offence.
Advantages of the literal rule
Words of parliament, Respects separation of powers, Makes the law more certain, Makes them clear when considering the words in the act
Disadvantages of the literal rule
Cannot take into account different situations, Assumes everything is perfectly worded, Words can have more than one meaning, Can demand ureal perfection of wording
What is the golden rule
Looks at the literal meaning of the words but the judge is then allowed to avoid an interpretation that would lead to an absurd result
What are the two approaches within the golden rule
Narrow and braod
What is the narrow approach
Court chooses a possible meaning of the words but if there’s only one meaning it must be given
What is the case for the narrow approach
R v Allen
What happened in R v Allen
D attempted to marry the niece of his first
wife (whilst he was still married). Not a valid marriage due to close relationship of the 2 women. He was charges under s57
OAPA 1861 offence to get married before
the previous marriage ended. D argued
that he could not be charged as his 2nd
marriage was ‘void’. Court held used narrow approach and decided ‘shall marry’ to be interpreted as going through a ceremony and D was guilty.
What is the broad approach
If a clear meaning of the words would lead to an absurd result the judge will modify the meaning of the words
What is the case for the broad approach
Sigsworth
What happened in the case of Sigsworth
A son had murdered his mother. Mother had made a will which meant murderer son would have inherited her estate. There was no ambiguity in the Act but the courts could not let a murderer benefit from a crime, so the broad approach was used. Held: Court wrote into the Act that the D was not entitled to inherit where they had
killed the deceased.
Advantages of the golden rule
Respect parliaments words, Can choose a sensible meaning, Remove repugnant situations
Disadvantages of the golden rule
Not always possible to predict when this approach will occur and it cannot do too much
What is the mischief rule
Judge looks at the gap in the law before the act was passed and interprets the words which have been used to cover that re existing gap
What 4 points should be consideredfor the mischief rule
What was the common law before the making of the act, what was the mischief the common law did not provide, what was the remedy parliament gave and the true reason for the remedy
