Aids to interpretation

Long and Short title (Intrinsic aid)

give clues to meaning of words used in Act

eg. Royal College of Nursing v DHSS

preamble or purpose section (Intrinsic aid)

older acts have detailed preamble outlining what statute covered and purpose

new acts may have objectives or purposes section at beginning of Act

eg. Climate change and sustainable energy Act 2006

Interpretation section (Intrinsic aid)

known as definition section, glossary of key etrms

eg. Theft Act s.10

schedules (Intrinsic aid)

usually come at the end of an Act and contain more detailed clarification of rules

explanatory notes (Intrinsic aid)

inserted by parliament draftsmen when Act printed

intended as a useful resource to aid interpretation

however, where contradictions exist between actual wording of the stature and explanatory notes the wording of Act should be adhered to.

Punctuation (Intrinsic aid)

can and should be taken into account by judges when interpreting statutes

Dictionary (extrinsic aid)

used to discover the plain, ordinary meaning of a work at the time the Act was passed

eg. DPP v Cheeseman

Hansard (extrinsic aid)

report on debates in parliament during progress of Bill

eg. Pepper v Hart, courts allowed to refer to hansard in order to discover parliaments true intentions

statements of minister must be clear

Law Commission (extrinsic aid)

reports which eld to passing of the Act

eg. Coroners and Justice Act 2009

EU law (extrinsic aid)

has influenced judges to adopt a purposive approach when interpreting statutes

Precedent (extrinsic aid)

case law appropriate to the area of law

Hunan Rights Act 1998 (extrinsic aid)

Judges must, as far as possible interpret Acts of parliament so they are consistent with human rights

Academic textbooks (extrinsic aid)

eg. Dunlop v Selfridge

court adopted the definition of ‘consideration’ in contract law given by the academic Pollock

Interpretation Act 1978 (extrinsic aid)

gives some statutory guidance

eg. ‘he’ and ‘she’ singular will always include plural