As legislation has increased in length and scope; the great majority of legal cases now concern some aspect of statutory interpretation. In practice, it is impossible to draft a statute which covers all eventualities and is free from conflict about its application.
In order to assist judges in determining the meaning of law, ‘rules’ of statutory interpretation have developed through the courts. It is difficult to ascertain the exact intention of Parliament at the time a particular statute was passed, and climate changes may affect this retrospectively. The process of statutory interpretation is creative – the judges themselves develop the law according to their own understanding and interpretive priorities.
1978 – Parliament passed the Interpretation Act – defines ‘he’ as ‘he and she’ etc.
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