Give an account of the main rules of statutory interpretation and Essay

Give an account of the main rules of statutory interpretation and illustrate their operation by reference to decide cases. do these rules provide a helpful guid - Essay Example When comparing legislation with common law, statutes can change the set norms of common law but the common law can not overturn or change statutes; it can be modified by a later statute. There is a common belief that law is straightforward; actually it is not so. There are three rules being practiced by judges to interpret statutes (UK Law Online). The golden rule – when literal interpretation leads to silliness, it is improvised to a less obvious meaning. Otherwise also, there could be policy implications arising out of literal interpretations. The mischief rule – It defines the issue the Act was meant to resolve and decides on the interpretation which best suites the issue. Law Commission reports and Hansard – the journal of debates in Parliament – can also be consulted to decide the problem before the Act. Smith v Hughes (1871) LR 6 QB 597 is an example of the mischief rule (UK Law Online). The literal approach is the default position that honours Parliamentary Sovereignty. It demands that judges enforce law and not make it. The purposive approach, based on the golden rule, is preferred in Europe and the ECJ while the literal approach of statutory interpretations is the preferred choice throughout in the UK (legal Easy, 2006). In certain particular social policy implementations, the like of outlawing of sex discrimination, judges need to be flexible by using a more purposive approach (the golden or mischief rules) There is the case example of Pickstone v Freeman [1988] 2 All ER 803. The above approaches have wider applications. There are certain other rules of interpretation, which come under two sub categories (UK Law Online). Rules of Language – The â€Å"eiusdem generic† rule – a Latin phrase, which means of the same kind: It states that normal words follow particular examples for getting meanings, and are not that general or ordinary after