The Purposive Approach

DEFINITION

• judges interpret an act depending on what they believe Parliament meant to achieve through that act

CASE 1

RE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, EX PARTE SMITH

• Smith was adopted
• he was mentally ill and had commited 2 murders
• within the Adoption Act 1976, it was stated that a person should have access to his birth certificate
• this would have allowed Smith access to his biological parents
• as Smith had mental issues and a serious criminal history, he may have harmed these biological parents
• judges decided that it was not the intention of Parliament to pose a risk to the biological parents of adopted children
• Smith was not granted access to his birth certificate

CASE 2

R (QUINTAVALLE) V SECRETARY OF STATE

• the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 states that an 'embryo means a live human embryo where fertilisation is complete'
• this was made at a time where IVF was the only treatment available for infertility
• the court had to decide if this applied to embryos produced by cell nuclear replacement (CNR)
• this was a treatment that was not present when the act was made
• it was decided that parliament cannot have intended to distinguish between embryos produced by IVF and CNR
• the words of the act were applied to embryos created by CNR

ADVANTAGES

• it looks at the intention of Parliament when making Acts
• it makes sense to look at these intentions as these are why the acts were intitally made
• allows judges to use their experience and common sense
• allows judges to consider social and technological changes 
• avoids an absurd outcome 

DISADVANTAGES

• finding the intentions of Parliament can be hard
• risk of judicial law-making from judges who have not been elected to make laws
• may cause uncertainty in law as words are not interpreted in the way they are written
• its use is inconsistent
• its use is unpredictable