Parliament, The Law-Making Process, and Statutory Interpretation

Other Aids to Interpretation

called extrinsic aids. Dictionaries, textbooks and other reference books, earlier statutes, interpretation act 1978, law commission reports/royal commission and other official commission reports (mischief rule)

Presumptions in Statutory Interpretation

restrictions on interpretation, judges should not change established common law principles through act of statutory interpretation

Impact of the HRA 1998 on statutory interpretation

Brings human rights contained in the ECHR down from international law into binding domestic law.

Hansard

Typescripts of parliamentary discussions. Exclusionary rule forbid a court from referring to Parliamentary materials like Hansard to seek assistance when interpreting a statute but this changed in 1992

Hybrid Bills

Mix between public and private bills. ‘a Public Bill which affects a particular private interest in a manner different from the private interests of other persons or bodies in the same category or class.’

codifying statute

a law which restates legal subject matter previously contained in earlier statutes, the common law, the custom

consolidating statute

a law which re-enacts particular legal subject matter which was previously contained in several different statutes

difference between consolidation and codification

codification refers to principles in case laws but consolidation refers to principles in statutes. Consolidation does not involve changing law but codification can if there are any gaps in case law that need strengthening or clarification.

White Paper

set out Gov proposals on topics of current concern and signify Gov’s intention to enact new legislation

Green Paper

Issued less frequently and are introductory higher-level Government reports on a particular area.

Delegated legislation (subordinate legislation)

law made by persons or bodies with the delegated authority of Parliament.

By-laws

Laws which are made by a local authority and only apply within a specific geographical area.

The Rule Committees

Have delegated power to make procedural rules for the courts. Consist of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee, the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee, and the Family Procedure Rule Committee.