Statutory Interpretation

There are three organs of government:

• The Legislative (Parliament)
• The Executive (Cabinet)
• The Judges (Judicial)

Montesquieu's Theory of Chaos:

When one branch of the government interferes with the workings of another there will be chaos

• 75% of Supreme Court Cases now deal with Statutory Interpretation

There are four rules of interpretation:

• The Literal Rule
• The Golden Rule
• The Mischief Rule
• The Purposive Approach

These rules exist because of the ambiguity of law and the various ways it can be interpreted. This could be because the words used in the original legislation are no longer used or now have a different meaning to when the law was drafted, or because Parliament did not forsee circumstances that have arisen due to new developments or technology