Statutory Interpretation

• What are the four rules/approaches for statutory interpretation?

  Literal rule, Golden rule, Mischief rule, Purposive approach
• Why might judges need to interpret language used in statutes?

  An Act contains ambiguous words, words used are too broad, the progress of technology, there has been an error in drafting
• Literal rule: Where judges use the exact meaning of words when interpreting a statute, no matter how absurd the outcome
• Golden rule: Where judges decide that the literal rule produces absurd results
• Mischief rule: A rule of statutory interpretation used to prevent the mischief an Act is aimed at
• Purposive approach: Where judges look to see what is the purpose of law
• What is the literal rule?

  Where judges will give the literal and grammatically correct meaning to the section, regardless of how absurd the result
• What is the golden rule?

  An extension of the literal rule where words will be given their literal meaning unless the result would be absurd. There are two approaches to the golden rule: Narrow approach and Wide approach
• What is the narrow approach to the golden rule?

  Where the court may only choose between the possible meanings of the word and if there is only one then that one must be taken
• What is the wide approach to the golden rule?

  Where the words only have one clear meaning which would lead to an absurd result, so the court will use the golden rule to modify the words to avoid the absurdity
• What is the mischief rule?

  Where judges will look back to the gap in the previous law and interprets the new Act so as to cover the gap
• What is the purposive approach?

  An extension of the mischief rule that is recommended by the Law Commission and the EU where the judges look to see what is the purpose of the law. Not only do judges look to see what the gap was in the old law but deciding what they believe Parliament meant to achieve with the new law
• What are the two types of aids for statutory interpretation?

  Internal and external
• What are internal/intrinsic aids?

  Aids 'inside the act'
• What are external/extrinsic aids?

  Aids 'outside the act'
• What are examples of internal aids?

  Preamble/introductory text/long title, explanatory notes or a glossary of key terms
• What are examples of external aids?

  Historical context of the Act, dictionaries and textbooks, previous commercial practice, treaties with international law, Hansard, the Interpretation Act 1978
• What case states that Hansard can be used as an external aid?

  Pepper v Hart
• What is a case for the literal rule?

  Fisher v Bell
• What is a case for the golden rule?

  R v Burstow
• What is a case for the mischief rule?

  Royal College of Nursing v DHSS
• What is a case for the purposive approach?

  R(Miranda) v Home Secretary
• What are some advantages to the literal rule?

  Follows the wording of Parliament,

  Prevents unelected judge making law,

  Makes the law more certain,

  Easier to predict how judges will interpret the law
• What are some disadvantages to the literal rule?

  Not all Acts are perfectly drafted,

  Words have more than one meaning,

  Can lead to unfair or unjust decisions
• What are some advantages to the golden rule?

  Respects the words of Parliament,

  Allows the judge to choose the most sensible meaning,

  Avoids the worst problems of the literal rule
• What are some disadvantages to the golden rule?

  Can only be used in limited situations,

  Not possible to predict when the courts will use it,

  It is a 'feeble parachute' to the literal rule
• What are some advantages to the mischief rule?

  Promotes the purpose of the law,

  Fills in the gap in the law,

  Produces a 'just' (fair) result
• What are some disadvantages to the mischief rule?

  Risk of judicial law making,

  Not as wide as the purposive approach,

  Limited to looking back at the old law,

  Can make the law uncertain
• What are some advantages to the purposive approach?

  Leads to justice in individual cases,

  Allows for new developments in technology,

  Avoids absurd decisions
• What are some disadvantages to the purposive approach?

  Difficult to find Parliament's intention,

  Allows judges to make law,

  Leads to uncertainty in the law