Statutory Interpretation

What Statutory Interpretation covers

Statutory Interpretation is examined in Component 1, The Nature of Law and the English Legal System. It covers the need for statutory interpretation and the presumptions, the literal rule, the golden rule, the mischief rule, the purposive approach, the rules of language, intrinsic aids, extrinsic aids and the use of Hansard and the Human Rights Act 1998, European Union law and interpretation.

The 9 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The need for statutory interpretation and the presumptionsStatutory interpretation, presumption against changing the common law and presumption that mens rea is required.Open →
• The literal ruleGiving words their plain ordinary meaning whatever the result, worked through Whiteley v Chappell, Berriman, Fisher v Bell, Harris and Cheeseman, and why it is still where a judge starts.Open →
• The golden ruleDeparting from the plain meaning to avoid absurdity — the narrow application choosing between two meanings in R v Allen, the wide application in Re Sigsworth and Adler v George, and how rarely either is used.Open →
• The mischief ruleHeydon's Case and its four questions, applied in Smith v Hughes, Royal College of Nursing, Elliott v Grey, Corkery v Carpenter and DPP v Bull, with the objection that a 1584 test fits a modern statute badly.Open →
• The purposive approachReading an Act for the aim it was passed to achieve rather than the gap it was passed to close, through Quintavalle, Tower Boot, Coltman and Fitzpatrick, and the constitutional objection Lord Denning's gap-filling attracted.Open →
• The rules of languageRules of language in statutory interpretation, ejusdem generis rule and expressio unius est exclusio alterius.Open →
• Intrinsic aidsIntrinsic aid, interpretation section and explanatory notes.Open →
• Extrinsic aids and the use of HansardDictionaries, earlier statutes, historical setting, textbooks, law reform reports and treaties — and the Pepper v Hart conditions that opened parliamentary debates to the courts, with the criticism that followed.Open →
• The Human Rights Act 1998, European Union law and interpretationDeclaration of incompatibility and teleological approach of the Court of Justice.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Statutory Interpretation further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Direct application of an EU regulation vs Consistent interpretation of national law

  Direct application of an EU regulation: it takes effect without any domestic wording. Consistent interpretation of national law: it means bending existing domestic wording towards the required result.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is statutory interpretation?

   Model answer

   Statutory interpretation is the process by which a judge decides what the words of an Act mean. The judge must then apply that meaning to the facts of the case.

2. 2

   Why do the words of an Act need interpreting at all?

   Model answer

   Language is imprecise, and a word can carry more than one ordinary meaning. Parliament also cannot foresee every situation the Act will have to cover.

3. 3

   How does a broad term create difficulty?

   Model answer

   A broad term such as vehicle or family is deliberately wide so that the Act covers many situations. Judges must then decide whether a particular thing falls inside the term.

4. 4

   How can a drafting error create difficulty?

   Model answer

   Parliamentary Counsel work at speed and under political pressure, so words are sometimes ambiguous or contradictory. Courts must make sense of the wording as enacted rather than rewrite it.

5. 5

   How does new technology create difficulty in interpretation?

   Model answer

   An Act written before a technology existed must still be applied once the technology appears. Judges must decide whether the old words stretch to cover the new situation.

6. 6

   How can changes in the use of language cause a problem?

   Model answer

   A word can shift its meaning over the decades since an Act was passed. Judges must decide whether to use the meaning of the day the Act was passed or the current meaning.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Statutory Interpretation revision questions

What does Statutory Interpretation cover in Eduqas A-Level Law?

9 subtopics: the need for statutory interpretation and the presumptions, the literal rule, the golden rule, the mischief rule, the purposive approach, the rules of language, intrinsic aids, extrinsic aids and the use of hansard and the human rights act 1998, european union law and interpretation. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Statutory Interpretation organised?

By the Eduqas A150QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.