Modern Statutory Interpretation

Part I. Background; 1. The nature of statutory interpretation; 2. A modern history of key concepts; 3. Constitutional context; Part II. The Framework of Statutory Interpretation: 4. Legislative intent; 5. The judicial duty to be independent; 6. Text-based interpretation; 7. Context; 8. Purpose; 9. Practical techniques; Part III. Working with Legislation: Broader Skills and Knowledge: 10. Legislative drafting; 11. Enactment procedure; 12. Commencement; 13. Structure and components of an Act; 14. Problem analysis: sources of doubt; Part IV. The Provision, and the Act as a Whole: 15. The language of the provision; 16. The effect of drafting styles; 17. Special categories of legislation: the interpretation of remedial, penal and revenue provisions; 18. Linguistic canons; 19. The 'always speaking' approach; 20. The scheme and components of an Act; Part V. Legislative History: 21. Legislative antecedents (evolution) including subsequent amending Acts; 22. Pre-existing common law; 23. Background facts and circumstances; 24. Extrinsic materials – pre-parliamentary and parliamentary materials; Part VI. Interpretation Acts and Other Acts of General Application: 25. Interpretation Acts; 26. Other Acts of general application; Part VII. The Wider Context: 27. Consequences; 28. The principle of legality; 29. Use of the statute book and legislation of other jurisdictions; 30. Use of precedent; 31. International treaties and materials; 32. Other common law presumptions and aids; 33. Inadmissible considerations; Part VIII. Special Interpretative Issues: 34. Remedial constructions for drafting errors; 35. Provisions in apparent conflict; 36. Statutory powers and their characterisation: discretion or duty?; 37. The effect of non-compliance with a statutory requirement; 38. Statutory reasonableness; 39. Presumption against retrospective operation; 40. Presumption against application to government and other Crown entities; 41. Presumption against extraterritorial operation; 42. Mental ingredient of statutory offences; 43. Delegated legislation; Appendix A. Glossary; Appendix B. Bibliography.