Statutory Interpretation

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Who makes statutes?
they are made by Parliament
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What falls to the judges?
the task of interpreting and applying the statutes in the courts falls to the judges
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What happens in cases where it isnt simple?
in some cases there may be ambiguity in the language used or the circumstances of the case may not fit exactly into the wording of the statute
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What has the developed to assist them in the task of interpretation?
the literal rule
the golden rule
the mischief rule
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What derives from European law?
the purposive approach
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What is the literal rule?
the words of the statute are interpreted to give them their ordinary and grammatical meaning
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Literal rule
What happens in Cheeseman v DPP 1990?
D was masturbating in public toilet on view to public, statute said was an offence to expose ones self to passenger but that was in 1800 passenger means something different now, the policeman witnessed it and he wasnt passing by, exposing himself to the p
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Literal Rule
What happened in the case of London & North Eastern Railway v Berriman?
Claimants husband killed whilst oiling a train track and no look out man provided, statute said compensation would be paid when relaying or repairing track if someone died, but oiling wasnt in statute therefore widow was not liable for compensation becaus
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Literal Rule
What happened in the case of R v Harris 1863?
D bit of his victims nose, the statute said it was an offence to stab, cut or wound but didnt mention biting so therefore defendant was not liable as the wording did not cover the situation
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Literal Rule
What happened in the case of Fisher v Bell 1961?
Flick knife in shop window with price tag on it and statute said it was an offence to offer a sale, but good are not classed as an offer for sale so he was not guilty for an offence
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What are the advantages of the literal rule?
Upholding the seperation of powers, restricts the role of judge which is good thing because they shouldnt be in charge of making law and are not representative of the society and dont have democratic knowledge, applying the literal rule removes all of jud
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What are the disadvantages of the literal rule?
people are able to get away with certain crimes because of lack of wording = cheeseman v DPP, causes unfairness and injustice = case of Berriman, undermines public confidence in law = case of Harris, makes a nonsense of the law
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What is the golden law?
Judges have often mitigates the strict approach of the literal rule by using the golden rule, it was established in the case of Riverwear Commissioners v Adamson, under the golden rule the court may depart from the literal rule where it would lead to an a
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Golden Rule
What happens in the case of R v Allen 1872?
D charged with bigamy, statute said an offence for one who is married to marry another, applied the literal rule this offence could never be committed because in our civil law cannot marry if married it is impossible, absurd that parliament created law th
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Golden Rule
What happens in the case of Maddox v Storer 1963?
D charged with driving over 30 mph in vehicle adapted to carry more than 7 passengers, d was driving a minibus and not adapted it could carry 11 passengers, it was said that adapted to included made for the purpose of so his conviction was upheld
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Golden Rule
What happens in the case of Adler v George 1964?
D charged with offence of obstructing an office in the vicinity of a prohibited place but statute used word in vicinity but wasnt near the prohibited place he was in it so court said it was absurd if he was outside so added to the law saying it included i
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What are the advantages of the golden rule?
closes loop holes in case of Alan, more in line with common sense, more in line with parliaments intention, mistakes corrected immediatley so no awkward precedent, saves parliament time
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What are the disadvantages of the golden rule?
infringes seperation of powers because it gives judges the power to create laws and change the wording of the laws
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Where does the mischief rule derive from?
Heydon's Case in 1584
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Under the mischief rule what must the courts consider?
what was the law before the statute was passed?
what was the mischief the statute was trying to remedy?
what was the remedy Parliament was trying to provide?
what was the true reason for the remedy?
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What is the judges role to do with the mischief rule?
the judges role is to suppress the mischief and advance the remedy
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What did The Sussex Peerage Case 1844 establish?
is established that the mischief rule should only be applied where the statute was ambiguous
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Mischief rule
What happened in the case of Smith v Hughes 1960?
prostitutes dancing in windows and on balconies trying to intice there customers, statute said offence to sit in public place, wording needed to be interpreted here was public place although they were in private homes they were on view to public, court sa
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Mischief Rule
What happened in the case of Elliot v Grey 1960?
Car jacked up, 3 wheels removed, no battery, parked outside on road, statute said offence for the uninsured care to be used on road but it wasnt being used, court said it was being used and intention of parliament was that all vehicles could potentially c
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Mischief Rule
What happened in the case of Royal College of Nursing v DHSS 1981?
Concerned on legality of abortions, advances in medical science surgical abortions were replaced by hormone abortions, common for nurses to adminster the hormones, college challenged if legal for nurses to be able to administer this, aim of legislation on
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What are the advantages of the mischief rule?
Allows the laws to develop

Gives effect to parliaments intention

It allows judges to use their common sense and save parliament time
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What are the disadvantages of the mischief rule?
It is undemocratic

Can cause uncertainty

Infringes the rule of law by making things unlawful after they were lawful so it created a time after the event was occured - Elliot v Grey
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Where is the purposive approach used?
it is used in the European Court
of Justice
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Why would the literal rule be little use in the European Law?
it would be little used since there are several languages in operation and translation is not an exact science
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What are domestic judges required to do ?
required to apply the Purposive approach whenever applying a piece of EU law
Lord Simon explained the approach in Maunsell v Ollins
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Purposive Approach
What happens in the case of Maunsell v Ollins 1975?
case was concerned with whether a farm cottage attached to farmhouse constituted premises for the purposes of the Rent Act
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Purposive Approach
What did Lord Simon say about the case of Maunsell v Ollins 1975?
Lord Simon two stage test:
"The first task of a court of construction is to put itself in the shoes of the draftsman - to consider what knowledge he had and importantly what statutory objective he had... being thus placed... the court proceeds to ascertai
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What have judges done?
judges have applied the purpose approach when considering UK legislation
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What was questioned in the Pepper v Hart 1993 case?
What did Lord Griffiths say?
question for the court was whether a teacher at a private school had to pay tax on the perk he recieved in the form of reduced school fees
"The days have passed when the courts adapted a literal approach, the courts use a purposive approach, which seeks
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Purposive Approach

What happened in the case of Pickstone v Freemans plc 1998?
Women warehouse operatives paid same as male warehouse operative, Miss Pickstone claimed work of warehouse operative equal value to that done by male who were paid £1.22 per week more than they were, employers argued women operative employed on like work
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Purposive Approach

What did they say about the case of Pickstone v Freemans plc 1998?
Was a literal interpretation of the 1970 statute, House of Lords decided that the literal approach would have left the UK in breach of its Treaty obligations to give effect to an EU directive, therefore used the purposive approach and stated that Miss Pic
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Purposive approach

What was said in the case of Regine v Secretary of State for Health ex parte Quintavalle 2003?
Pro Life Alliance argued that Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority did not have authority to license research with regards to cloning, HF and EA 1990 granted authority the right to license research with regards to embryos, defined as "live human e
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What are the advantages of the purposive approach?
allows the law to develop = case of Quintavalle
Makes sense to look at the whole purpose of the act
Gives effects to parliaments intention
Allows judges to consider social and technological changes
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What are the disadvantages of the purposive approach?
can infringe on the rule of law

judges have the rule as well

can cause uncertainty
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What falls to the judges?

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the task of interpreting and applying the statutes in the courts falls to the judges

Card 3

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What happens in cases where it isnt simple?

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Card 4

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What has the developed to assist them in the task of interpretation?

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Card 5

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What derives from European law?

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