Law Paper 1

• Delegated Legislation


  What is delegated legislation?
• Primary legislation


  • Give an example of primary legislation.
• Forms of Delegated Legislation

  • 4 forms of DL
• Imposing fines for littering


  • Example of what form of DL?
• Parliamentary control


  • Provide one form of Parliamentary control.
• Judicial control


  • Provide one form of Judicial control.
• Advantage and disadvantage of DL


  Give one advantage and one disadvantage of DL
• Statute


  A law made by Parliament, otherwise known as an Act of Parliament. It is primary legislation and is the highest source of law.
• Statutory Interpretation


  A process where judges establish the true and correct intention of the law-making bodies.
• Parliament makes the law and judges apply it. In doing this, they create precedents for future cases to follow.
• In most cases, the meaning of statutes is clear and judge's role is simply to determine how this law applies to the facts of the case before them.
• Judges have a measure of discretion and creative power in the manner in which they interpret legislation.
• Occasionally words require interpreting. Like any other form of communication, legislation can include words that have more than one meaning, or words whose meaning changes depending on its context.
• Brock v DPP (1993)


  • The court had to interpret the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 which contained the phrase 'any dog of the type known as a Pit Bull Terrier'.
• Changes in the use of language over time can mean that the meaning of words in statutes needs to be interpreted.
• New developments, such as changes in technology or science, can mean that older acts of parliament do not cover modern issues.
• Royal College of Nursing v DHSS (1981)


  • The court had to interpret the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Abortion Act 1967 in light of advances in medical science.
• Ambiguous words


  Some words have more than one meaning, requiring interpretation in court.
• Approaches to statutory interpretation


  • Literal rule
  • Golden rule
  • Mischief rule
  • Purposive approach
• Whiteley v Chappel (1968)


  • The judge interpreted the word 'entitled' literally, finding the defendant not guilty.
• Golden rule


  If the literal rule causes an absurd result, the judge can take a more flexible approach, considering the statute as a whole and using internal aids.
• Adler v George (1964)


  • The judge used the golden rule to interpret 'in the vicinity of' to include both within and around the prohibited place.
• R v Allen (1872)


  • The court applied the golden rule and held that the word 'marry' should be interpreted as 'to go through a marriage ceremony'.
• Mischief rule


  Allows the judge to look for the 'mischief' or problem the statute was made to fix, by looking back at common law before the Act was passed.
• Elliott v Grey (1960)


  • The judge decided that the Road Traffic Act 1930 was passed to stop the hazard of broken-down cars on the road, even though the car could not be 'used'.
• Purposive approach


  Similar to the mischief rule, but looks for the intention of Parliament and fills in the gaps, allowing judges to look outside the Act.
• Magor and St Mellons Rural District Council v Newport Corporation (1950)


  • Lord Denning stated that the court should find the intention of Parliament and ministers, and carry it out by filling in the gaps.
• Lord Simmons criticised the purposive approach, suggesting that if a gap is disclosed, the remedy lies in an amending Act, not in judges using power to fill in the gaps.
• Difference between mischief and purposive


  The mischief rule looks at the objective of the legislation, while the purposive approach seeks to determine Parliament's intentions. The purposive approach gives judges more flexibility.