Statutory interpretation Flashcards
The Literal Rule
-requires the judge to give the words of the statute their natural, ordinary or dictionary meaning
The Golden Rule
Narrow Approach
-Applied when the word of phrase has more than one literal meaning
The Golden Rule
Broad approach
-Applied when there’s only one literal meaning but applying it would cause an absurdity
The Mischief Rule
-Looks back to the gap in the previous law and interprets the act to cover the gap
The Purposive approach
-Focuses on the aim of the law and what it was trying to achieve
Example of Literal Rule
Whitely v Chappell 1868
-offence to impersonate ‘any person entitled to vote’ , impersonating a dead person so they’re not entitled to vote
London & North Eastern Railway Co V Berriman 1946
-killed during maintenance work on job, wife’s claim failed as it wasn’t ‘repair or relaying’
Example of Mischief Rule
Smith V Hughes 1960
-Offence for prostitutes to loiter in the streets so they called from windows, still found guilty as act was to clean up the streets
Purposive Approach example
R V Registrar General, Ex Parte Smith 1990
-Adopted boy, criminally insane who has killed twice was denied his birth mothers information in order to save her from possible harm
The Golden Rule (Narrow Application) example
R v Allen 1872
-Was illegal to marry more than one person, so argued that as it was illegal he technically wasn’t married, marriage was considered as going through with the ceremony still found guilty
Adler V George 1964
-Offence to obstruct her majesty’s forces in the vicinity of a prohibited place, but happened in prohibited place, still found guilty
The Golden Rule (Wider Approach) example
R v Sigsworth 1935
-Son murdered mother with no will, should’ve inherited estate but was refused it
Internal aids - purposive approach
Aids inside of the act that help with interpretation
- wording of the act
- long title
- short title
External aids - purposive approach
Aids outside of the act that help with interpretation
- previous acts on the same topic
- historical setting
- dictionaries of the time
Advantages of the purposive approach
- leads to justice in individual cases
- allows for new developments in technology (R v Quintaille)
- avoids absurd decisions
Disadvantages of the purposive approach
- difficult to find parliaments intentions
- allows judicial law making
- leads to uncertainty’s in laws
