Flashcards
Aids to interpretation
Cards in this deck (14)
- 1What is the purpose of 'aids to interpretation'?Helps find 'the intention of Parliament'
- 2What are internal (intrinsic) aids?Clues within the statute itself that may help to make it's meaning clearer.
- 3What are the 'short and long titles'?Court can consider either. Long title is good for the mischief and purposive approaches in that it may give clues as to the purpose of the statute eg 'an Act to amend the law on defamation'. Law of Property Act 1925 is an example. Short title gives very little away eg 'The Defamation Act', but the long title explains that the statute is bringing together all the previous statutes relating to conveyancing.
- 4What is the 'preamble'?Introduction to the statute. Older statutes often have a preamble that may provide a useful indication of the purpose of the Act or the mischief in the common law the Act to designed to remedy. Modern statutes do not tend to have them or contain only a brief one. E.g, the preamble to Theft Act 1968 breifly explains that it is an Act to modernise the law of Theft.
- 5What is a 'definition section'?These set out lists of what meanings are intended for certain words used elsewhere in the statute and are a relatively modern drafting technique. E.g. in The Defamation Act 2013 the section defined the meaning of 'publish' and 'statement' and this would be particularly useful for the literal rule.
- 6What are 'schedules'?Towards the end of the statute which give extra deatil required by earlier parts of the statute. This can be added to a 'heading' and 'punctuation'.
- 7What are external (extrinsic) aids?Materials which are outside a statute which the judges may use, together with the various approaches to interpretation to help them interpret that statute.
- 8What is one example of an external aid?Authorised dictionary of the year the statute was passed (useful for the literal rule).
- 9What is another example?Law reform report (such as a Law Commission report) on which the statute is based (useful for the mischief rule). Parliament chooses if they want to follow through with draft bill.
- 10Another example?Interpretation Act 1978 can be used if the word is covered by the 1978 Act. E.g, 'he' includes 'she'. Covers singluar/plural.
- 11What is 'Hansard'?The official record of what is said in Parliament. It can be consulted where the word or phrase being interpreted was discussed in a Parliamentry debate. Pepper v Hart allowed Hansard to be consulted in limited circumstances (useful for purposive approach).
- 12What are the advantages of using Hansard?It is useful if the judges can make use of all relevant materials to interpet a statute. It might be the case that the very question of interpretation at issue was considered by Parliament (and would therefore be in Hansard).
- 13What are the disadvantages of Hansard?Lawyers researching Hansard adds to the time and cost of a case.
- 14What is a 'treaty'?International treaty entered into by the UK (such as the Treaty of Maastricht 1992 which formed the basis of today's EU) if the word is defined there.
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- A level Law Flashcards on Aids to interpretation, created by Chloe Green on 28/03/2017.
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- Chloe Green
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