Statutory Interpretation In Australia
Statutory interpretation is where judges interpret the meanings of words in a statute to determine and classify if and how it will apply in similar or different cases. This statutory interpretation or judicial interpretation can be created and applied as 'judicial precedents' for other cases. Judges are making laws when determining the words in an Act.Statutes need interpreting for a number of different reasons. Parliaments language in acts of parliament can be ambiguous and unclear. Many words in an act may need definitions and classifications. The interpretation of the statute helps to clarify the intention and words of the statute. An example of this is the SA Road Traffic Act in the case of R v McGuinness, which needed to be interpreted so that the word "driving" was clearly defined to clearly understand what the term "driving" involved.With changes in time and circumstance there is a change in society's values and attitudes and therefore their must be a change in the way statutes are interpreted. An example regarding the legislation on telephonic devices, is the wording "other like services" meant to include fax or digital photographs? This must be decided by statutory interpretation.
Judges play an enormous role in this. It states people have the right to be free, unless parliament clearly means to take away that liberty and expresses so. They need things to go wrong first before any action can be taken. There also are external materials to be given to judges to help decide the meaning and intention of parliament. On the other hand because it is separated from parliament and the judges are not democratically elected, they cannot make laws that represent the changing values and attitudes of our society. The literal or plain rule states that if the meaning is clear and unambiguous then it should be applied, it cannot be applied if there are two possible outcomes. Sometimes this is unclear and it is not definite that the judges in the court will interpret this in the intended way. It is needed to decide how words of an Act apply to a particular case. It is also needed for ambiguities, when different words and meanings are used in Acts and Regulations were disputes are created. Also parliament creates Acts for a certain purpose and intention. The Mischief rule allows the judge to look at the problem that the act was trying to prevent by looking at its aim and what 'mischief' it was trying to stop. These aids help judges to closely examine the words of the Act so that they are able to make a statutory interpretation that identifies the intention of parliament and is fair and just. Also the Act might not be interpreted with parliament intention. Case law is a sturdy method of law making because it is created using strong principles, using and following the rule of law and natural justice. This case was between the Australian Capital Television Pt.
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