STATUTORY INTERPRETATION

STATUTORY INTERPRETATION

1. Issues in court: Fact/Law/Both

   • Application v Interpretation
     • Judicial pronouncement
     • Applying/interp by judges/lawyers/laymen

2. Basic problems:

   • Dealing with words,
     • Ambiguity
       • Semantic
       • Syntactic
     • Change their meaning over time

3. Constraints of drafting

   • Time limit
   • Bills made to pass (parliamentary pressure)

4. Intention of Parliament

   • *Pepper v Hart
     • Must be obscure/ambiguous
       • Must be a statement from the promotor of the bill
         • Statement must be clear
   • Pros
   • Cons

5. MODERN APPROACH= PURPOSIVE

   • CROSS ON STATUTORY INTERP
     • Judges must give effect to the grammatical/ordinary/technical meanings in the context of the statute, and decide the extent of such
       • Can apply any possible secondary meaning if appears to be contrary to the purpose of the statute
         • Judge can read in any words he considers to be necessarily implied by context
           • Has limited power to add/alter/ignore words
             • Only in order to prevent from being unintelligible/absurd/ unworkable/ irreconcilable
           • IN application of this the judge may refer to:
             • Aids to construction
               • Interpretation Acts 1978
               • Interpretation and Legislative reform (S)act 2010
               • Interp Section
               • Means/Include
               • Definition by example
               • Punctuation
               • Rules of Language
                 • Ejusdem Generis
                   • Noscitur a sociis
                     • Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius
               • Words that cause problems: And/or/may/shall/must
               • Presumptions
                 • For liberty
                 • Against unclear changes in the law
                 • Against retrospective effect
               • EXTERNAL AIDS
                 • Dictionaries
                 • Shakespeare
                 • Practice
                 • Contemporary exposition
                 • Legislative history
                   • Previous enactments
                   • Pre-parl material
                     • Travaux Preparatoires
                       • SLC, White Papers, explanatory notes
                   • Parliamentary material
                     • Reports on parl debates (Hansard)
                       • Ambig
                         • Clear statement from the promotor
                       • Adv v disadv
             • Presumptions
       • MUST BE READ SO FAR AS TO GIVE EFFECT TO EU law and refrain from contradicting/conflicting with EU Law
         • Must be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with Convention rights