Judges use numerous tools

Running head: LAW
CASE SUMMARY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

LAW1
The mechanism by which courts interpret and execute laws is known as statutory
interpretation. A certain amount of interpretation is sometimes needed if a case involves a
statute. The language in a statute often has a straightforward and simple. However, the terms of
the statute that need to be interpreted by the judge in certain cases are unclear or undefined.
Judges use numerous tools and approaches of statutory interpretation, including conventional
canons of statutory interpretation, legislative context and purpose, to discover the meanings of
statutes1. The different rules of statutory interpretation are:
 A literal rule which states that it is significant to use the exact terms in their ordinary
context if the words are clear and vague;
 Golden rule which states that the grammatical sense of the terms must be observed unless
it contributes to confusion or some repugnance or disagreement with the rest of the
language; and
 The mischief rule the main purpose of which is to decide ‘the malice and defects’ that are
to be corrected by the applicable statute and which decision will ‘remove the malice and
facilitate the remedy’2.
Now it is important to see how these different rules of statutory interpretation help a court
to handle various cases:
In Mandla vs. Dowell Lee [1983] 2 AC 548 case both the plaintiffs (father and son)
belonged to the Sikh Community who wore turbans on the head to hide hair. The headmaster of
the school who was also considered to be the first defendant declined to admit the Sikh son as a
student because plaintiffs did not want to cut off their hair and avoid wearing a turban to comply
1 Kavanaugh, Brett M. "Fixing statutory interpretation." (2015): 2118.
2 Solan, Lawrence M. "Precedent in Statutory Interpretation." (2015) NCL Rev. 94: 1165.