Statutory Interpretation Within The Courts Of England & Wales Essay - 1

Statutory Interpretation Within The Courts Of England & Wales - Essay Example In this essay, the primary purpose is to identify the standard powers available to the courts in England and wales in association with statutory interpretation. Moreover, the essay will explore how the canon of judicial precedent employs statutory interpretation. Users of the law such as students, practitioners, academics are in many times faced with difficulty to interpret drafted laws. Factors that lead to the need for the interpretation have already been highlighted and shall be divided into two i.e. due to insufficiency or narrowness and broadness or the legislation being general. To clarify such matters, the court has the power to give guidance and interpret such law by administering justice to the people. Therefore, in this regard, there are three basic rules ‘Canons’ that are at the disposal of the court to determine the targets and the meaning of a statute (Edlin, 2007). Further According to Keenan and Riches in their book Business Law, judges must follow the laid out guidelines that are categorized according to their origin i.e. either statutory rules or common law rules. For example, under the statutory rules interpretation sections are found in the Modern acts (interpretation Act 1978 and internal/intrinsic aids). On the other hand, common law rules guides the judge on how to interpret (Literal rule, Golden rule, and mischief rule) ( Keenan & Riches, 2011). This is the first rule of statutory interpretation where the court is expected to assess the common and basic understanding and meaning of a provision. This rule is aimed at maintaining the original intent of parliament. Hence, in case ambiguity is present the natural and original dictionary meaning is applied. Consequently the literal rule is greatly recognized because it respects parliamentary independence. However, this also means that judges are not at liberty in regards to statutory interpretation. More so, the literal rule does not go without its flaws for example the use of dictionary