Statutory Interpretation
The process by whereby judges attribute meanings to words in a statute
in order to apply the relevant statute to a case to reach a decision.
There are two approaches: Literal and Purposive.
The literal approach is where the words are given their plain,
ordinary and grammatical meanings.
The purposive approach is when the judge looks at the intentions of
parliament.
Aids available:
There are two types of aids available for statutory interpretation,
they are Internal aids, which are included within the act, or External
aids that are not included within the act.
INTERNAL AIDS
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These are most likely to be used when the literal or golden rules are
being applied, but might also be useful in finding the purpose of the
act.
These parts of the act can be used so long as they do not conflict
with the clear enacting words of a statute:
* Preamble (often found in old statutes, setting out what acts must
do; private acts must have them)
* Long Title (sets out the aim of the Act)
* Short Title
* Definitions section (helps with the literal approach, as words are
given their meaning)
Punctuation is disregarded, as it was not originally used.
EXTERNAL AIDS
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These are mostly used by judges trying to find the purpose of the act.
The following have been traditionally used:
* Historical setting
* Other statutes
* Textbooks
* Previous practice in the field covered by the statute
* Treaties and international obligations
* Subordinate legislation
* Dictionaries (used for the golden and literal rules)
* Reports made by the law reform agencies can be used. (since
Black-Clawson 1975, where H/L said official reports preceding the
statute can be considered as evidence of the pre-existing state of
The 14th Amendment of the Constitution states that the State shall not deprive any person equal protection of the laws. When equal protection is guaranteed, the outcome must be fair; in other words, substantive justice must be present. Based on this interpretation, McCleskey v. Kemp should be overturned because McCleskey’s death was a racially biased and unfair outcome that was not constitutionally protected by the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Justice Blackmun wrote in his dissenting opinion that in order for McCleskey to prove his innocence and the presence of a racially discriminatory criminal sentencing procedure, he had to meet a three-factor standard. First, he had to prove he was a member of a group that has historically suffered differential treatment. Second, McCleskey had to establish the extent of this treatment. Last, he had to prove that the process by which the death penalty was chosen was open to racial bias. McCleskey met all three prongs of this standard, and even though the Court’s decision denied his claim that he was not guaranteed equal protection, there is enough evidence to prove the selection process was not racially neutral and that a violation of the 14th Amendment was present. Furthermore, Justice Kennedy’s idea of “evolving standards of decency” in Roper v. Simmons (2005) demonstrates that the growing national consensus is against the death penalty and therefore in favor of equal protection for all persons.
which is a measure to determine if the State's statute can be considered valid, in that it
The following paragraphs will discuss the differences between these two legal documents.
Davis v. Davis deals with a couple from Knoxville, TN, Junior Lewis Davis and Mary Sue Davis (now Stowe), who eventually turned to in vitro fertilization (IVF) after having much difficult conceiving naturally. Five unsuccessful tubal pregnancies and six attempts of IVF implantations later, the couple allowed the facility to cryogenically preserve their last remaining ova in their final efforts. Their marriage ultimately came to an end, resulting in this dispute regarding the disposition of their “frozen embryos”. The couple was unable to come to an agreement from the very beginning to the end, with Mary Sue initially wanting the embryos with the intent to transfer to her own uterus and Junior wanting them to remain frozen until he decided to
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