Interpretation of Statutes - PDF

Interpretation of Statutes

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ..........................................................................................................................................1
Discussing law making stages which can be accomplished through legal draftsmen and by
delegated legislation ................................................................................................................1
TASK 2 ..........................................................................................................................................3
Discussing the provisions of Interpretation Act 1978 of UK and Interpretation Ordinance of Sri
Lanka in relation to repeal and revival of statutes.....................................................................3
TASK 3...........................................................................................................................................5
Discussing different aids in interpretation of statutes................................................................5
TASK 4 ..........................................................................................................................................6
Presumption against ousting the established jurisdiction of courts...........................................6
Presumption against retrospective legislation...........................................................................7
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Interpretation of statute is the skill and art of understanding the right sense of enacted
words used in the law. Finding out the true sense of enacted laws justifies the principles and
provisions made under it. The present report will cover statute making process, preliminary
provisions, basic rules of interpretation (Appleby, 2016). The assignment will also highlight aids
of finding sources for construction of statute and maximums and presumptions of interpretation
laws enacted in the country or state.
TASK 1
Discussing law making stages which can be accomplished through legal
draftsmen and by delegated legislation
Establishment and enactment of a law involve different stages in which legal draftsmen
and delegated legislation plays a crucial role for its accomplishment. Parliament of the country
has been handled the responsibility of forming and drafting legislation in Sri Lanka (Cyrul,
2017). The process starts with :
 A government representative belong to representative house sponsoring a bill in
assemblies and sessions by placing the bill in House of Chamber. The bill is duly signed
by representative to which a bill number is assigned by clerk and is referred to
committee that reviews it.
 House of Representative has created permanent committees to which these bills are
assigned. Hearing sessions are involved in this stage for understanding the perceptions
and views of parties that are interested. Amendments and suggestions are put up here,
which the committee members can accept or reject by giving votes.
Acceptance of bill by committee along with amendments is reported and is assigned new
number to clean bill.
 The debate sessions are held afterwards at house floor for further approval by
prescribed authority. Additional amendment are proposed by members of parliament for
altering bill.
 Voting is then done by House members.
 The bill must be passed by in the parliament before it is presented to President of the
country.
 When the bill passed by assembly and parliament, it is termed as enrolled which is
finally sent to the president of state. The president the signs bill for terming it as law
enacted in country.
Legal draftsman : Legal draftsman is a person who performs the activity of putting up
suggested law or a new law in the most precise manner including correct words. These
draftsmen play a significant role in accomplishment of law making process.
The main purpose of drafter is to ensure that words used in law by him or legal
draftsman department of ministry entails the exact objective of the proposed bill. The
department focuses on putting corrects in proposed bills for making it capable of being enacted
in country. It also performs the task of drafting all amendments made in existing laws in
accordance with legislation demands which do not override the objectives of country's
constitution. It also advises government, different ministries, statutory bodies etc., regarding
formation of bills and ancillary legislation.
Therefore, it can be concluded that legal draftsman helps in proper accomplishment of
bill for being consider as an enacted law in constitution (Gluck, O'Connell and Po, 2015).
Delegated legislation : It is the secondary or subordinate legislation or law created by
primary legislation of country by delegating them powers. The aim of this legislation is to assist
primary legislation in administering the requirements of primary legislation body. This has been
done for providing relief to primary body for focussing their time forming critical polices and
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procedures for country. This law is not created by parliament but is created by some
government ministry with the permission of parliament.
The purpose of delegated legislation is to provide help to act of parliament. For instance,
it establishes the detail of different acts of parliament, Gluck, A. R., O'Connell, A. J. and Po, R.,
2015its performs the activity of fixing prices of public services, it sets the date on which an act
will be enforced into the country. The delegated legislative authorities includes ordinances,
orders and rules, by-laws, standards, notices, declarations etc.
The law making process is accomplished through delegated legislation in the sense that
notices, guidelines, orders, rules, regulations, ordinances, by-laws related to a bill or an act of
parliament is the responsibility of delegated legislative authority which makes the work of
enacting the bill a lot quicker (Mancini, 2018.).
TASK 2
Discussing the provisions of Interpretation Act 1978 of UK and
Interpretation Ordinance of Sri Lanka in relation to repeal and revival
of statutes
Interpretation Act 1978 of UK : This an act of Parliament of United Kingdom which
contains the provisions for interpreting the acts of parliament of state. The general provisions of
this act and its operations are stated below:
 Words of enactment : Each section and sub section of the act takes effect as
substantive change without the application of introductory words.
 Amendments or repeals in session: An act can be amend or repeal in any session of
parliament in which it was passed.
 Judicially notice : Every bill which has been approved by President and added in acts
of parliaments are termed as public acts. These acts have to be publicly noticed unless
the same is contrary expressed in the respective act.
 Time of commencement : The act come into force when provisions for the same are
expressed in act, at the beginning of the day. But when no provisions are made, the act
comes into force at the time when assent of royalty is received.
General provisions of repeal and revival of statutes are:
Basic meaning of Repeal is to cancel, reverse or revoke the act by the concerned
authority of State. There are two ways in which repeal of statutes ids done that are; partial
repeal in which re-enactment is done of repealed law and the other is repealing of statute
without any replacement law for it. Repealing of secondary or delegated legislation is termed as
Revocation of statute in UK. Earlier, under common law effect of repealing of statue was
considered as nil. But now it is controlled by Interpretation Act 1978 of United Kingdom.
Revival of Statutes : Revival of statutes is a law that provides for the renewal of
provisions, guidelines, actions, of wills and of the legal enforceability of the documents.
Provisions for partial repeal: The Interpretation Act states that an act can be repealed
partially while keeping other provisions of the act remain enforced.
Provisions for full repeal : A full repeal is when the complete act is revoked or
reversed.
Repeal with and without re- enactment: When the existing law is updated and
modifications are done in it , then it is said repeal with re-enactment. For example, modification
in social welfare legislations done time to time is the repeal of old law with re-enactment.
When a law become ineffective and cannot be enforce any longer is termed as repeal
without re- enactment. For example, The Corn Law in England was repealed without any
replacement.
The repeal of acts may be implied or express:
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Expressed repeal : This event of repeal occurs when words are applied in a statute for
repealing an old statue.
Implied repeal : This happens when acts of parliament collide with acts of ministries,
the condition is implied that acts of parliaments are applied in case of conflicts and
incontinences.
The interpretation of Ordinance of Sri Lanka :
Ordinance is a temporary rule or law made by government for defining certain terms and
for making the short the language used for enacting a law.
As per the Interpretation of Ordinance of Sri Lanka:
Any law or ordinance amending old and existing enactment is expressed as Principal
Ordinance. The meaning this expression is interpreted as amendment in an enactment and
each amendment must be consider and read as one with principal enactment (Gluck and
Posner, 2017).
Effect of repeal, expiration and revival of an enactment :
 Whenever a law is repealed fully or partially, unless it is expressly quoted in such
repeal, shall not be revived or deemed to have revived the written repealed
enactment. This could be anything such as rights, privilege etc.
 Whenever a repeal is done and a new substitution is made for it, the repeal does
not come into force until provisions of new substitution acts becomes legally
enforceable (Scalia 2018).
 Whenever a law is repealed unless it stated expressly, it should not affect or
deemed to affect the :
◦ the operations of past written law;
◦ offences committed or penalty in such written law;
◦ Any incomplete proceeding or actions pending must be carried out under the
old written law in manner as if no action of repeal has been conducted.
TASK 3
Discussing different aids in interpretation of statutes
3.1 Hansard : It is the official recording and a report of debates, proceedings of the British
Parliament. This printed report is kept by all the legislative bodies of the country.
The term is named after Thomas Curson Hansard who was the very first printer of debates held
in British Parliament.
Stockdale v/s Hansard is a UK constitutional case law in which British parliament
challenged the privilege available under common law. This case result into a reform in
legislation.
3.2 Interpretation of Convention and Treaties :
Treaties are the agreements between various parties agreeing upon some course of
action which is beneficial for all of them under the international laws. Generally the parties are
sovereign countries and international organisations.
Conventions is a general term which includes al agreements, treaties, pacts. It is an
agreed decision upon something by number of individuals in a meeting (MacCormick and
Summers, 2016).
Example of convention and treaties are : Chemical Weapons Conventions, it contains
laws relating to production, keeping stock and use of chemical weapons in UK.
Sri Lanka ratified several conventions such as Protocol for amending Warsaw
Convention in the year 1997.
3.3 Interpretation of Ordinance:
The purpose of Ordinance is to consolidate, amend, ratify the laws which are related to
construction, application and interpretation of enacted laws. It makes general temporary
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provisions with regards to public officers, proceedings of civil and criminal nature, public
contracts etc.
It has the provisions of effects of repealed written laws which are discussed above.
3.4 Interpretation Act 1978 of UK :
This act is the result of consolidation of Interpretation act 1989 and other acts. It is an act
of parliament which relates to construction and application of parliamentary acts in the country.
Specifically, it provides provisions that are related to construction of language and words
required for an act and application and operation of those words for interpreting the enacted law
that best meets true objective of the statute.
For example, Section 4 contains provisions that has replaced the provisions of Acts of
Parliament 1973. Section 5 contains the definitions of different words phrases.
3.5 Law Commission Reports and White Papers :
Law commission is an independent separate body which acts as a watchdog of laws in
country and keeps laws under continuous review and recommends to legislative bodies
regarding the reforms wherever require. These recommendations are in written form is known
as Law commission report.
A White paper is a report prepared by prescribed authorities providing
information to readers. This paper acts as a guideline for understanding complexities involved
in laws. The purpose is to present government policies and regulation along with welcoming
opinions regarding those policies and regulations.
They are an aid to interpretation of statue as these provide the vital information
regarding the enacted laws and recommendations that can be adopted by law makers for
making exiting laws more effective and simpler to understand.
Examples of white paper in UK is Churchill White Paper in 1922.
3.6 Historical background of a Statute :
Amendment of Statue is closely related to development in civilization and changing
needs of society.
Interpretation of Statute in UK is dated back to 1850 in which Interpretation of act was
created as an act of parliament. It was created for the purpose of simplifying the language of
words and phrases used in different acts of British parliament. It used to be called as Lord
Brougham's Act.
TASK 4
Presumption against ousting the established jurisdiction of courts
A presumption in legal sense means a conclusion that is drawn out on the basis of
facts which is combined with already established laws, reasoning and logic. It provides
jurisdiction a basis or rule for assuming a fact of a case to be true.
Ouster of Jurisdiction is a provision or clause that is added by legislative authority in
legislation which provides for the exclusion of judicial review of acts of courts. In UK, ouster of
jurisdiction is done either partially or fully (Weber, Edwards and Huber, 2017).
The presumption against ousting of court's jurisdiction states that unless stated
expressed, the courts can presume that its jurisdiction will not be override and ignored or
ousted.
CASE LAW : Anisminic Ltd v/s Foreign Compensation Commission (1968), this case
law established a collateral fact doctrine in English law. This states the any error of law made by
public authority will be nullify and that exclusion clause will not prevent courts from their
jurisdiction unless stated expressed.
Presumption against retrospective legislation
Firstly, what is retrospective legislation?
A retrospective legislation is that legislation that comes into effect on point of time before
it passes. This legislation is effected or applied to a particular crime, contract or other subject
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matter which were in existence before this act or law was passed. This is for this reason it is
known as retrospective legislature. Examples of such legislation are Statutory instruments,
Wireless Telegraphy Act 1954 etc.
For instance, a criminal law may be make the actions criminal in nature which were legal
at the time of committing such actions.
A presumption is there against it under the common law which states that a law does
not have a retrospective effect until and unless such retrospective is aligns with legal procedure
A case law of Wainwright v/s Home office (2002) states a presumption that enacted
laws should not be consider as moulding the substantive laws which are related to things or
events that took place prior to the laws coming into force. In this case, the right of privacy of
Alan Wainwright was invaded. The judgement came out that Alan Wainwright was awarded with
damages incurred. But the prison officers were not considered undertaking any wrongful act.
The judgement of the low supremacy court was set aside which favoured the Wainwright
(Judgments - Wilson and others v. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Appellant), 2019).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that law making process involve various
stages such as preparation of bill that needs to be passed by the different houses of state
before it is presented to the president. The present then signs the bill which makes it to be
called an act of parliament. The delegation legislation plays a great in administering the acts of
parliament. It helps in the law making process by fixing the date or parliament session, prices of
public services etc. The report also concluded that acts can be revoked anytime in full or in
partial with or without replacement of new acts or provisions. The presumption against the
retrospective legislation states that a legislation have a retrospective effect meaning of which is
a legislation cannot be come into existence before it is passed.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Appleby, G., 2016. Statutory interpretation: Navigating a complicated relationship: The role of
the solicitor-general. LSJ: Law Society of NSW Journal. (29). p.70.
Cyrul, W., 2017. How Rational is Rational Lawmaking?. In The theory and practice of
legislation .(pp. 103-114). Routledge.
Gluck, A. R. and Posner, R .A., 2017. Statutory Interpretation on the Bench: A Survey of Forty-
Two Judges on the Federal Courts of Appeals. Harv. L. Rev.. 131. p.1298.
Gluck, A. R., O'Connell, A. J. and Po, R., 2015. Unorthodox Lawmaking, Unorthodox
Rulemaking. Colum. L. Rev.. 115. p.1789.
MacCormick, D. N. and Summers, R. S., 2016. Interpreting statutes: a comparative study.
Routledge.
Mancini, G. F., 2018. The making of a constitution for Europe. In The new European
community .(pp. 185-202). Routledge.
Scalia, A., 2018. A matter of interpretation: Federal courts and the law: Federal courts and the
law. Princeton University Press.
Weber, M., Edwards, N. and Huber, S., 2017. EU Review Clauses in Need of Review? An
Analysis of Review Clauses in EU Legislation in the Context of Better
Lawmaking. European Journal of Risk Regulation. 8(1). pp.121-139.
Online
Judgments - Wilson and others v. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Appellant).
2019. [online]. Available through
<https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldjudgmt/jd030710/will-7.htm>
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