LLB101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Switchblade, Crimes Act 1914, Statutory Interpretation
LLB101 INTRODUCTION TO LAW LECTURE 9: STATUTORY INTERPRETATION
OVERVIEW
1. What is in an Act?
2. Introduction to statutory interpretation
3. Different approaches to interpretation
○Common law
○Statute
4. The process to use
A. Check threshold issues
■Commencement, and retrospectivity if required
■Geographical jurisdiction
B. Interpret the section/s of interest – interpretation toolkit of text, context and purpose
■Use of intrinsic materials
■General rules/definitions provided by the AIAs
■Common law presumptions when interpreting
■Extrinsic material
C. Concluding issues
WHAT IS IN AN ACT?
What is considered part of an Act?
●“Intrinsic material” means the stuff that is considered to be part of the Act (cf “extrinsic material” –
outside the Act).
●See Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) s 13 & Acts Interpretation Act 1954 (Qld) s 14 (and s 35C) for a
full list of what is in an Act.
●Examples of some parts of an Act are on the following slides (these examples come from the Civil
Liability Act 2003 (Qld))
●The words in the section (i.e. the ‘text’)
●Section headings (intrinsic now, though not always) (*NOTE: from 1 July 1991)
○‘Marginal notes’
●Other headings (Chapter / Part / Division / Sub-division)
●Long Title and Short Title
●Commencement section (maybe)
○If there is no commencement provision, the Acts Interpretation Acts provide a default rule (see
below).
● Objects provision → “Main purposes” (maybe)
●Dictionary/Interpretation sections
●Notes
●Examples
●Penalties (for criminal legislation)
PENALTY UNITS:
●Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), s 4AA: currently $210
●Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld), ss 5, 5A
○Penalties and Sentences Regulation 2015 (Qld), s 3: currently, for most offences, $126.15
■Whole dollar amount = total penalty. Ignore cents
WHAT IS NOT CONSIDERED PART OF AN ACT?
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●Obviously, anything not printed in the Act itself
○E.g. Explanatory Notes/Memoranda, speeches made in Parliament when the Bill was being
passed.
●Editor’s notes, footnotes and Endnotes (see AIA(Cth) s 13 and AIA(Qld) s 14).
A BIT MORE ON ENDNOTES
●These are not part of the Act itself, but are editorial information inserted when an Act is reprinted.
●Endnotes contain information about the various pieces of amending legislation included in the reprint,
and which sections were affected.
●Use the List of Annotations to check the commencement information for amended sections, by matching
up the Year & Act No with those in the List of Legislation
2. INTRODUCTION TO INTERPRETATION
○What is Statutory Interpretation?
■Discerning the meaning of a provision in an Act according to the legislative intent.
■Interpretation/construction?
○Relationship with ‘Separation of Powers’
■Interpretation vs amendment?
○Why is it important…
■As a student?
●Most subjects require the interpretation of statutes.
■As a future practitioner?
●Legislation will be your starting point of what the law is.
○Before we start – 2 common questions….
BUT WHY DO WE HAVE TO INTERPRET?!?!
●Statutes are written without a crystal ball
●The English language can give multiple meanings at times (i.e. ambiguous)
●Some words have special meanings
●Example: Fisher v Bell [1961] 1 QB 394
○Facts: Bell was a shopkeeper who had displayed a ‘flick knife’ in his shop window, with a price
tag.
○There was an Act which provided that it was an offence for any person to manufacture, sell or
hire or offer for sale or hire…[a flick knife]…to any other person.
○Bell was charged by Constable Fisher.
○What would you say as the judge?
IS STATUTORY INTERPRETATION HARD???
●Short answer: yes – in the sense that it is not mechanical and there may not be a clear answer.
●It is a skill that is fundamental to legal practice, and one that you will be introduced to in this unit and
continue to refine throughout your legal lives.
●Good news: Judges comment all the time about how poor some lawyers are at it. Giving it proper
attention whilst at university will help you. (And judges don’t always agree with each other either!)
●Better news: you have already been exposed to it this semester
Road Traffic Act 1974 (WA)
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49. (1) …every person who -
(a) drives a motor vehicle of a class for which he is not the holder of the appropriate, valid
driver's licence; …
on a road, commits an offence.
3. DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO INTERPRETATION
WHAT IS THE GOAL WHEN INTERPRETING A STATUTE?
●To discover the legislative intention of a provision
○“the duty of the court is to give words of a statutory provision the meaning that the legislature is
taken to have intended them to have” (Project Blue Sky Inc v Australian Broadcasting Authority
(1998) 194 CLR 355, 384)
○Note that the ‘legislative intent’ is not the subjective intentions of the members of parliament
who passed the Act. Rather it is an objective concept.
HOW DID COMMON LAW APPROACH IT?
Courts developed ways of dealing with such questions of interpretation.
●‘Literal Rule’: words are given their ‘ordinary literal meaning’ in order to discover the legislative intent.
○See Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd (1920) 28 CLR 129 (in
textbook)
●‘Golden Rule’: literal approach unless the outcome of this would be an absurd result (e.g. when
compared to the rest of the Act).
○See Hall v Jones (1942) 42 SR (NSW) 203 (in textbook)
○Example: Adler v George [1964] 2 QB 7, where it was an offence to create an obstruction “in
the vicinity of a prohibited place”. What about actually in the place itself?
●‘Mischief Rule’: A broader approach, which involves asking what ‘mischief’ was this Act designed to
remedy, and giving an interpretation that best achieves that intention.
○ Could be used where the meaning of a word was ambiguous.
■What was the law before this Act was made?
■What was the mischief/defect that the old law did not provide for?
■What remedy did Parliament establish under the new Act to correct that mischief?
■How can the court interpret the Act so as to correct the mischief according to the true
intent of Parliament?
(From Heydon’s Case (1584) 76 ER 637, in textbook)
HOW DOES LEGISLATION APPROACH IT?
●All Australian parliaments have passed legislation to assist with interpreting other legislation (and much
delegated legislation).
●‘Purposive Approach’ – as directed by
○Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) s 15AA
In interpreting a provision of an Act, the interpretation that would best achieve the purpose
or object of the Act (whether or not that purpose or object is expressly stated in the Act) is to
be preferred to each other interpretation.
○Acts Interpretation Act 1954 (Qld) s 14A
In the interpretation of a provision of an Act, the interpretation that will best achieve the
purpose of the Act is to be preferred to any other interpretation.
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Document Summary
Llb101 introduction to law lecture 9: statutory interpretation. Statute: the process to use, check threshold issues. Interpret the section/s of interest interpretation toolkit of text, context and purpose. Intrinsic material means the stuff that is considered to be part of the act (cf extrinsic material outside the act). See acts interpretation act 1901 (cth) s 13 & acts interpretation act 1954 (qld) s 14 (and s 35c) for a full list of what is in an act. Examples of some parts of an act are on the following slides (these examples come from the civil. The words in the section (i. e. the text") Section headings (intrinsic now, though not always) (*note: from 1 july 1991) Other headings (chapter / part / division / sub-division) If there is no commencement provision, the acts interpretation acts provide a default rule (see below). Crimes act 1914 (cth), s 4aa: currently . Penalties and sentences act 1992 (qld), ss 5, 5a.
