Statute Law

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1 Statute Law

• Parliament passes primary legislation. Only Parliament can amend or repeal it, except where an Enabling Act authorises delegated legislation to amend provisions.

• Green paper – a proposal for new law

• White paper – after comments received, a draft for the new law

• First reading – introduction to the House

• Second reading – debate about the merits of the proposed legislation

• Committee stage – all-party committee discuss and amend the draft

• Report stage – the amended draft then presented to the House for approval

• Third reading – final approval by the House

• Same procedure in the other House

• Royal Assent

2 Statutory Interpretation Rules

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• Literal rule – ordinary everyday meaning, unless ….

• Golden rule…. would lead to an absurdity

  • re Sigsworth

  • Whitely v Chappell

• Mischief rule-what is the statute trying to control

  • Gardiner v Sevenoaks

  • Gorris v Scott

• Ejusdem generis

  • Evans v Cross

• Expressio unius est exclusio alterius

• Noscitur a sociis

• In pari materia

• Purposive approach — identify the statute’s purpose and resolve ambiguous wording in the way that best gives effect to it

• Courts apply the current statutory framework for assimilated law and relevant CJEU case law

3 Statutory Interpretation Presumptions

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• As well as being bound by rules, judges are also bound by presumptions

• Statute is not to alter existing common law

• Where statute deprives a person of his property, Courts have the poer to confiscate that property where it is being used for an illegal purpose

• Statute does not operate retrospectively

• Statute does not bind the Crown

• Statute is not to deprive a person of their liberty

• Statute operates throughout the UK unless Scottish Law prevails

• Under Human Rights Act 1998 s3, courts read legislation compatibly with Convention rights where possible; a higher court may otherwise issue a declaration of incompatibility

• Unless perfectly clear, statute is not to create an offence of absolute liability

• Statute is not to conflict with existing statute

4 Aids to Interpretation

• 2 types : Intrinsic and extrinsic

• Intrinsic

  • The title of the statute may give an indication of its objective

  • Eg Anzac (Restriction on Trade Use of Word) Act 1916

  • The preamble – the introduction to the statute at the start of the document

  • Interpretation section within the statute

  • Margin notes

• Extrinsic

  • Reports of committees

  • Hansard

  • Dictionary

  • Books of authority

• Interpretation Act 1978

5 Delegated Legislation

• Statutory instruments (responsible ministers)

• Bye – laws (Burnley)

• Rules of Court (made by judiciary)

• Professional regulations (eg General Medical Council)

• Orders in Council (privy council – very rare)

• Advantages / Importance

  • Saves parliamentary time

  • Greater flexibility

  • Allows general principles to be written into statute, with fine detail added later by minister

  • Allows very quick passing of statute in cases of eg national emergency

  • Prevents parliament from being overwhelmed with excessive work-load