What does the principle of legality mean in statutory interpretation?
The term ‘principle of legality’ has most commonly been associated with one particular common law interpretive principle — the presumption that Parliament does not intend to interfere with fundamental common law rights, freedoms and immunities. The principle of legality is concerned with actual legislative intention.
What is the principle of legality and how does it affect the interpretation of statutes?
The principle of legality is a rule of statutory interpretation: if Parliament intends to interfere with fundamental rights or principles, or to depart from the general system of law, then it must express that intention by clear and unambiguous language.
What is the principle of legality in constitutional law?
The principle of legality states that the law should be clear, ascertainable and non-retrospective. “The Principle of Legality requires that the organs of the state operate through law” [2] With a majority in Parliament it is very possible for a Government to grant excessive powers to the Executive.
What is the aim of the principle of legality?
The principle of legality promotes unenumerated rights and principles, but the protection it provides is subtle, and limited. When properly understood, and as identified by the majority in Coco, rather than curtailing democracy, the principle enhances it, by promoting the rights and freedoms of the common law.
What are the principles of interpretation?
Basic Principles of Interpretation
- Literal Rule of interpretation.
- Mischief Rule of Interpretation.
- Rule of Reasonable Construction or Ut Res Magis Valent Quam Parent.
- Rule of Harmonious Construction.
- The golden rule of Interpretation.
What is the principle of legality public law?
This article examines the principle of legality (PoL). The PoL is a principle of statutory interpretation which is typically taken to mean that if Parliament wishes to infringe basic common-law norms it must do so through express language or by necessary implication.
Why is principle of legality important?
The main purpose of the principle of legality is to prevent a person from being wrongly charged with a crime. It ensures that the state or the federal body does not violate the basic human rights. Also, the person cannot be imposed a heavier penalty if it was imposed after the crime was committed.
What are the two main approaches to statutory interpretation?
There are three main theories of statutory interpretation: textualism, intentionalism, and purposivism. Textualism is the idea that the intent of the legislature is best ascertained through the words the legislature passed into law, i.e., the statutory text.
What are the rules of statutory interpretation?
There are numerous rules of statutory interpretation. The first rule and most important rule is the rule dealing with the statute’s plain language. This rule essentially states that the statute means what it says. If, for example, the statute says “vehicles,” then the court is going to assume it means vehicles and not “planes” or something else.
What is the literal approach to statutory interpretation?
Literal approach, also known as literal rule , is one of the three rules of statutory interpretation and one of the oldest methods to interpreting statutes that is adopted by judiciary under common law rules. When judges interpret a law, they would commonly use the literal rule first before using any other approaches of interpretation.
What are the Golden Rule of interpretation of statutes?
The ‘Golden Rule of Interpretation’. Golden Rule has an important place in the Interpretation of Statutes . It is such a rule which disposes of ambiguity’, inconsistency, unclarity, hardship, inconvenience, injustice, etc. arose from the language of Statute while interpreting it. It is a Universal Principle of Interpretation that the words of statutes should be given meaning according to the intention of the legislature and its intention could be known from the literal or grammatical