Rules of Statutory Interpretation: Literal, Golden, Mischief, and Purposive Approach

Legal System

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
The rules of Statutory Interpretation..........................................................................................2
The Literal Rule.....................................................................................................................2
The Golden Rule....................................................................................................................3
The Mischief Rule..................................................................................................................3
The Purposive Approach........................................................................................................4
Aids to Statutory Interpretation..............................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
Statutes are referred as legislation or the Acts of Parliament; they are also called the laws
made by the Parliament. While providing judgement in cases, the court has to interpret
statutes in order to ensure that their judgement is based on valid laws. Some amount of
interpretation is required to be conducted by the court when a case involves a statute. This
report will focus on explaining and evaluating different methods which are used by the court
for interpreting statutes. Furthermore, different cases will be analysed in the report for
understanding how the court interpret statutes.
The rules of Statutory Interpretation
There are a number of rules which are used by the court while interpreting statutes. It is to
mention here that the rules used by the court for statutory interpretation are not developed by
the parliament, instead, the court develops them for understanding the object of the law. The
Interpretation Act 1978 provides provisions regarding basic definitions regarding the
interpretation of the law; other than these definitions, the court has developed their rules in
order to interpret statutes1. Following are different rules which are used by the court for an
interpretation of statutes.
The Literal Rule
This is the first rule which is used by the court for an interpretation of statutes. Under this
rule, the judge gives words of the statute natural or ordinary meaning without putting a gloss
on the words in order to understand the meaning of the statute. In Sussex Peerage Case2,
Tindal CJ had giving a leading statement regarding the implementation of the literal rule in
which he provided that the laws which are passed by the parliament should be constructed
based on the intention of the parliament. If the words of the law are unambiguous and precise,
then the court should explain such words in their natural and ordinary sense3. In R v Harris4
case, the court provided that the defendant bit of victim’s nose whereas the law impose a
criminal penalty on stabbing, cutting or wounding a person. Based on the literal rule it held
1 Victoria Nourse, 'A Decision Theory Of Statutory Interpretation: Legislative History By The Rules' (2012) 122
Yale LJ.
2 [1844] 11 CI&Fin 85
3 Nathan Fawkes, 'Confessions of A Co-Accused As Exculpatory Evidence' (2014) 16 U. Notre Dame Austl. L.
Rev.
4 [1836] 7 C & P 446
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