Interpretation of Statutes and Principles of Legislation Notes | LL.B. (Three Years) Semester 5 | KSLU | munotes

Contents

Unit I Interpretation of Statutes

1. Interpretation of Statutes and Principles of Legislation: What This Paper Covers, and How to Read This Book 1
2. What Interpretation Is, and Why It Is Needed 5
3. Context, Fringe Meaning and Beneficial Construction 9
4. Rules of Interpretation Are Not Rules of Law: the Courts' Function and Its Limits 17
5. Statutes: Meaning and Classification 21
6. Codifying and Consolidating Statutes 28
7. Perpetual and Temporary Statutes, and the Effect of Expiry 33
8. Declaratory and Remedial Statutes 39
9. Commencement of Statutes 45
10. The Operation of a Statute: In Time and in Place 52
11. Repeal of Statutes, and the Provisions Dealing with Repeal under the General Clauses Act 55
12. The Power to Repeal, and the Presumption against Implied Repeal 63
13. Interpretation by Subject Matter and Purpose: Restrictive and Beneficial Construction 70
14. Taxing Statutes, Penal Statutes and Welfare Legislation 78
15. The Interpretation of Taxing Statutes 86
16. The Strict Construction of Penal Statutes 92
17. Mens Rea in Statutory Offences, Vicarious Liability and Offences by Companies 97
18. Evasion of Statutes 103
19. Interpretation of Substantive and Adjective Statutes 107
20. Interpretation of Directory and Mandatory Provisions 114
21. Enabling Statutes 121
22. Statutes Conferring Powers 126
23. Statutes Conferring Rights 131

Unit II Aids to Interpretation

1. Understanding a Statute: The Parts of an Act 136
2. Internal Aids to the Interpretation of a Statute 144
3. The Titles, the Preamble, Headings and Marginal Notes as Aids 157
4. Definitions, Illustrations, Exceptions, Provisos and Saving Clauses 163
5. The Non Obstante Clause, and the Curative or Ganga Clause 168
6. External Aids to the Interpretation of a Statute 174
7. Legislative History and Parliamentary Debates 183
8. Reports of Commissions 188
9. Statutes in Pari Materia, and Earlier and Later Statutes as Aids 193
10. Dictionaries and Contemporanea Expositio 197
11. Historical Facts, Later Developments and Foreign Decisions as Aids 202

Unit III Rules and Principles of Statutory Interpretation

1. The Literal Rule 207
2. The Golden Rule 213
3. The Mischief Rule, or the Rule in Heydon's Case 219
4. The Rule of Harmonious Construction 227
5. Secondary Rules: Noscitur a Sociis, Ejusdem Generis and Reddendo Singula Singulis 234
6. Same Word, Same Meaning; and the Use of Different Words 242
7. Exact Meaning, Technical Words and Negative Words 247
8. Casus Omissus: Why a Court Does Not Fill a Gap 252
9. Legal Fiction 259
10. The Principles of Constitutional Interpretation 264
11. The Seventh Schedule, and the Order of Precedence 269
12. Pith and Substance 274
13. Ancillary Powers: What Each Entry Carries with It 278
14. Colourable Legislation 283
15. The Doctrine of the Occupied Field 287
16. Residuary Power 292
17. Repugnancy, and Article 254 297

Unit IV Presumptions in statutory interpretation

1. Presumptions in Statutory Interpretation 303
2. Statutes Are Presumed to Be Valid: the Presumption of Constitutionality 311
3. Statutes Are Territorial in Operation 316
4. Territorial Nexus 320
5. Statutes Affecting the Jurisdiction of Courts 324
6. Prospective Application and Retrospective Effect 329
7. The Presumption against Violation of International Law 336
8. The Presumption against Violation of the Common Law 340
9. Statutes Affecting the State: Is the Crown or the State Bound? 343

Unit V Principles of Legislation

1. Law-Making by the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary 347
2. Legislation as a Source of Law 352
3. Judicial Creativity and the Growth of Law 367
4. Bentham and the Principle of Utility 371
5. The Principle of Utility as the Source of Legislation 375
6. The Ascetic Principle 383
7. The Arbitrary Principle, or the Principle of Sympathy and Antipathy 388
8. The Operation of These Principles upon Legislation 394
9. The Kinds of Pleasures and Pains, and Pains and Pleasures as Sanctions 400
10. The Measure of Pleasures and Pains 407
11. Circumstances Which Affect Sensibility 411
12. Political Good and Evil, and Why Acts Are Made Offences 418
13. Law and Morality 424
14. The Limits Which Separate Morals from Legislation 428
15. False Methods of Reasoning on Legislation 434