main points

• Statutory interpretation refers to the need for judges when applying acts of parliament and delegated legislation to the cases they hear to make sense of them
• the challenge of interpreting statutes

  • it can be difficult to identify parliament’s intention
  • sometimes words are left out as they are thought to be implied
  • broad terms are used
  • errors in drafting can be made
  • new situations arise that were unforeseen
  • meaning of words can change overtime
• the rules of statutory interpretation

  • the literal rule
  • the golden rule
  • the mischief rule
  • the purposive approach
• the literal rule

  • the most straightforward and rigid approach to statutory interpretation
  • to apply this rule , the judge reads the statute as a whole, puts the words in context and gives them their ordinary meaning

  Whitely v Chappell [1868]

  LNER v Berryman [1946]
• advantages and disadvantages of the literal rule

  • advantages

  1. it follows Parliaments exact words
  2. it creates certainty in the law
  3. leads to consistent outcomes

  • disadvantages

  1. it assumes that legislation is drafted perfectly without any mistakes
  2. can lead to unjust outcomes
  3. doesn’t take into account that words have more than one meaning
• the golden rule

  • states that the literal rule is to be followed unless it leads to absurd outcomes
  • narrow view - when a word has more than one possible meaning, the court can choose the most suitable of these meanings in order to avoid absurdity , R v Allen [1872]
  • wide view - when the words have only one clear meaning but would lead to an absurd outcome, the courts can modify the meaning of the words to avoid this , Re Sigsworth [1935]
• advantages and disadvantages of the golden rule

  • advantages

  1. respects the exact words of parliament except in limited situations
  2. it provides an escape route from the absurd outcomes with the literal rule
  3. avoids decisions that would lead to a repugnant situation

  • disadvantages

  1. it is limited in its use
  2. it is not always predictable when the courts will use the Golden rule
• the mischief rule

  • the view that statutes are enacted to cure problems with the common law and should be interpreted to achieve this
  • Smith v Hughes [1960]
• advantages and disadvantages of the mischief rule

  • advantages

  1. it produces more just outcomes than a literal approach would
  2. it promotes the aim of the law passed by parliament
  3. it gives flexibility

  • disadvantages

  1. leads to judicial law making
  2. uncertainty
  3. limited impact because it is not as wide as the purposive approach
• the purposive approach 


  • this aims to give effect to the purpose of the legislation
  • Pepper v Hart [1993]
  • Jones v Tower Boot co [1997]
  • R (Quintavalle) v Secretary of State for Health [2003]
• advantages and disadvantages of the purposive approach

  • advantages

  1. leads to justice
  2. it gives judges more discretion when interpreting statutes, which allows them to avoid absurd outcomes
  3. allows the law to be adapted to work with advances in technology so that the law keeps up to date

  • disadvantages

  1. it can be difficult to find out what parliaments true intentions were which makes it hard to apply them to the statutes
  2. it can be difficult to determine the outcome of a case
  3. judges may refuse to follow the clear words set out by our elected parliament