Romandutch rules of interpretation hold that the purpose. Download interpretation of statutes and principles of legislation book pdf for 2nd year students. There is a tremendous output of federal, state and territory legislation. Consequently, the superior courts had to give us the rules of interpretation to ease ambiguities, inconsistencies, contradictions or lacunas. The final rule of statutory interpretation is the mischief rule, under which a judge attempts to determine the legislators intention. No enactment has been enacted by the legislature for interpretation of statues including on tax laws. The rules of statutory interpretation are not rules in the strict sense, as each one may point to different solution to the same problem. Under this rule of interpretation the courts interpret the statutes in a literal and ordinary sense. The normal way of interpreting or construing a statute is to seek the intention of legislature. Interpretation of statutes pdf notes, ebook for law llb.
Remedial is used to mean either the converse of penal or procedural rather than substantive rights. Rules for interpretation of tax laws are to some extent different than the general principles of interpretation of common law. Federal rules of statutory interpretation by nicholas quinn. For as long as there have been statutes, lawyers and laymen have puzzled over their inevitable ambiguities. That situation led to the birth of principles of interpretation to find out the real intent of the legislature. Pdf interpreting tax statutes a shift away from the strict. The process of understanding expressions of the statute is called interpretation of statute. There has been a noticeable shift in the expression of law from court judgments to expositions in legislation. Note it is limited to enabled statutes only as law, that means no case law or common law is applicable. Interpretation of statutes is the correct understanding of the law. It fails to recognize that english language used in the statutes, itself is ambiguous and the english words contain different meanings from context to context. They interpret the words of the statute in a way that is used commonly by all.
The interpretation of statutes is one of the most important subject usually taught in law. There is a presumption that the enacted laws, rules, regulations etc. Principles of interpretation of statutes 205 process of ascertaining the meaning at an act of parliament or of a provision of an act. It is incumbent on the court to use the grammatical meaning. Literal rule aka plain meaning rule it means that statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute unless a statute explicitly defines some of its terms otherwise. There is no hierarchy of rules to be applied and neither is any court bound to follow a particular rule. It is a readytouse gist for law students and the primary objective of this gist is to enable the reader to understand the indepths of the subject and to provide exam oriented information. Introduction statutory interpretation is the process of interpreting and applying legislation to decide cases. Interpretation of statutes or particular part of it intention or purpose of framer s ordinarily to be sought for in the statutes itself or in elements. Beside these sources, there are certain rules and principles of interpretation developed both through case laws and academic scholarship in pakistan and also under other civilized legal systems of the world. Some of these rules are frequently referred to by the courts as canons of construction. Rules of interpretation which govern the tax laws are being dealt in this series of articles. The present essay entry focuses upon cardinal rules and general relevance of interpretation of statutes as being applied in indian context and as been evolved by indian judiciary with the passage of time. Federal rules of statutory interpretation by nicholas.
Jun 23, 2005 federal statutes do not come with instructions, but maybe they should. However, in many an acts, definition clause is inserted to mean a word or expression. Interpretation must be as near possible to the intention or purpose of framer s as the law would permit. The act is read by its plain meaning exactly as the words are written, the assumption being that parliament has said what it means. Literal or grammatical rule, golden rule, purposive rule. Rules of interpretation literal or grammatical rule.
But in many cases, there is some ambiguity or vagueness in. Interpretation of statutes summary lectures 1 15 studocu. Chapter xi principles of interpretation of statutes rules of interpretation generally t h e. Some of the important rules of statutary interpretation are. This has been a new initiative from goodword and we hope that it. It is extremely important and infact necessary also that the courts interpret the law in such a manner that ensures access to justice to the maximum. Rules of statutory interpretation a lawyer must know ipleaders. Beginning with a discussion of this rule, the paper moves on.
One of the three basic rules of interpretation, construction is golden rule. If the words are clear, free from ambiguity there is no need to refer to other means of interpretation. Various sources used are only limited to explore the written text and clarify what exactly has been indicated by the words used in the written text or the statutes. Indian historical rules of interpretation of statute have not got the due recognition in the present study of rules of interpretation. Many few peoples are aware about the existence of such rules even in india. Internal aid of interpretation introduction statute generally means the law or the act of the legislature authority. Although legislature makes the statute, it may be open to interpretation and have ambiguities. Most of them have been collected in books on interpretation of statutes and the draftsman would be well advised to keep. Here i am sharing two pdf ebooks containing detailed notes on the law llb subject interpretation of statutes. Important questions of interpretation of statutes the. Federal statutes do not come with instructions, but maybe they should. Rules of interpretation provide strong base for the super structure of judicial reasoning. This then makes the interpretation of statutes not as simple as one would think. They are purely guidelines for the judiciary to solve problems with statutory interpretation.
Thus the romandutch approach was replaced by the literal textual approach of english law. Over time, various methods of statutory interpretation and construction have fallen in and out of favor. In santi swarup sarkar v pradeep kumar sarkar, the supreme court held that if two interpretations are possible of the same statute, the one which validates the statute must be preferred. Some judges also feel that their role is to fill the gaps and ambiguities in the law whilst others think that it should be left to parliament as the supreme lawmaker. By rules, of course, we dont mean that legal interpretation is mechanical or simplistic. Primary rules of interpretation are discussed hereunder. Remedial statutes are to be given a liberal interpretation and construction to remedy the defects in the law for which purpose the statute was enacted. Jan, 2017 the process of understanding expressions of the statute is called interpretation of statute. The rules of statutory interpretation 2 translegal. Literal rule of interpretation is the primary rule. A statute, which is a bill or law passed by the legislature, imposes obligations and rules on the people. There may be other errors unnoticed by parliament and statutes cannot cover every eventuality therefore.
Interpretation of statutes importance of the words and and or to ensure that justice is made available to all, the judicial system has been evolved in all nations. Literal rule aka plain meaning rule it means that statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute unless a. The basic rule with regard to the construction of taxing statutes is that they should be strictly construed. Interpretation of statutes is a craft rather than a science. This basically involves an act of discovering the true meaning of the language which has been used in the statute. Words must be given the meaning they had when the text was adopted. Statutory interpretation refers to the process by which a court looks at a statute and determines what it means. Iii basic rules under the modern purposive approach to interpretation of statutes. Rules of presumption and statutory interpretation instructions 1. There are four rules of statutory interpretation, these are the literal rule, the golden rule, the mischief rule and the purposive approach.
Some amount of interpretation is often necessary when a case involves a statute. Great judges tell us these are the fundamental rules of statutory interpretation. These rules each take different approaches to interpretation of a statute. Mar 21, 2016 interpretation of statutes is a very important issue which is not made easy due to varying factors. Judicial interpretation of the meaning of a statute is authoritative in the matter before the court. Rules of interpretation of tax statutes p a g e 6 49 introduction 1.
In construing statutes the cardinal rule is to construe its provisions literally and grammatically giving the words their ordinary and natural meaning. Gradually, case by case, courts have developed assorted tools of interpretation. Chapter xi principles of interpretation of statutes r u l e s of interpretation generally the interpretation of laws is confined to courts of law. The general rule of the interpretation is that statutes must prima facie be given this ordinary meaning. And then, there has been criticism made as to the utility of definition clause or the interpretation clause.
Feb 12, 2012 literal rule of interpretation is the primary rule. Interpretation of statutes and principles of legislation book pdf. Statutory interpretation is the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation. This paper focuses attention on these preexisting rules rules of law, and not of language that determine the legal effect of written instruments. One of them is that words do not usually have static meanings. Through these statutes, certain acts which would otherwise be illegal are validated by curing the illegality and enables a particular line of action. An evaluation of the rules of statutory interpretation. Interpretation of statutes and principles of legislation. But in actual, there are many modern rules whose foundation has been laid down in ancient rules of interpretation. Aug, 2018 the object of interpretation of statutes is to determine the intention of the legislature conveyed expressly or impliedly in the language used. Pdf interpreting tax statutes a shift away from the. For this rules which help to get the right interpretation of law are discussed below. Summary the exercise of the judicial power of the united states often requires that courts construe statutes to apply them in particular cases and controversies. In todays video let us understand the rules of interpretation.
But if the words are vague and ambiguous then internal aid may be sought for interpretation. The enumeration below is being substantiated with the relevant case laws of indian jurisprudence but before that, it is important to analyze. Chapter 1 introdution to interpretation of statutes. The rule of literal construction ignores the limitations of language. Discuss the rules of statutary interpretation with the. Interpretation of statutes is a very important issue which is not made easy due to varying factors. Interpretation of statutes basic knowledge llb notes.
Courts say what the law is34 by resolving legal disputes in individual cases. Rules of statutory interpretation linkedin slideshare. Judicial rules are used to read unclear statutes and declare the law. Words are to be understood in their ordinary, everyday meaningsunless the context indicates that they bear a technical sense. In course of time, courts have evolved a large and elaborate body of rules to guide them in construing or interpreting laws. There are some 1012 rules of interpretation, in this video i. A guide to reading, interpreting and applying statutes. The paper is to equip the students with various tools of interpretation of statutes. Apr 01, 2017 there are certain general principles of interpretation which have been applied by courts from time to time. Rules of interpretation interpretation of statutes in. The classic statement of the mischief rule is that given by. Beginning with a discussion of this rule, the paper moves on to focus on the dilutions to the rule of strict construction.
Explanations and provisos are inserted to expand or. In the complex area of interpretation, recourse can be had to the rules and aids of statutory. Jul 03, 2019 interpretation of statutes and principles of legislation book pdf. Ios2601 notes to be printed autosaved ios2601 november 2005. Statutory rules cannot be modified or amended by administrative instruction. The paragraph of this case cited in this work is from pdf of the. To use paul finns expression, we were born to statutes. Some judges prefer one rule, while other judges prefer another. Statutes and statutory construction, second edition. It is extremely important and infact necessary also that the courts interpret the law in such a manner that.
As stated by salmond, by interpretation or construction is meant, the process by which the courts seek to ascertain the meaning of the legislature through the medium of authoritative forms in which it is expressed. The two sets of rules cannot always be clearly differentiated, for the operation of a statute may depend upon the meaning of its language, and the ascertainment of. In santi swarup sarkar v pradeep kumar sarkar, the supreme court held that if two interpretations are possible of the same statute, the one which validates the statute must be. As stated by salmond, by interpretation or construction is meant, the process by which the courts seek to ascertain the meaning of the legislature through the medium of authoritative forms in which.
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