Many countries use and apply the common law. The common law world largely operates through statutes enacted by a country's democratic legislature. These statutes are drafted and interpreted according to a uniform system of rules, presumptions, principles and canons evolved over centuries by common law judges.
In this book, Francis Bennion distills forty years of his prolific writings on statute law and statutory interpretation to provide valuable guidance on statutory interpretation applicable to all common law jurisdictions.
| Author's Note |
|
ix | |
| Abbreviations |
|
xi | |
| Table of Cases |
|
xiii | |
| Table of Statutes |
|
xxi | |
| Introductory |
|
1 | |
|
1. Basic concepts I: common law statutes; the enactment; legal meaning; factual outline and legal thrust; implied ancillary rules |
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|
5 | |
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2. Basic concepts II: opposing constructions; literal, purposive and developmental interpretations |
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|
27 | |
|
3. Grammatical and strained meanings |
|
|
35 | |
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4. Consequential and rectifying constructions |
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41 | |
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5. Contradictory enactments and updating construction |
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|
49 | |
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6. Drafting techniques and the Interpretation Act |
|
|
57 | |
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7. Transitional provisions and the Cohen question |
|
|
65 | |
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73 | |
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9. Rules of interpretation |
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|
79 | |
| 10. Legal policy |
|
89 | |
| 11. Interpretative presumptions |
|
97 | |
| 12. Linguistic canons and interpretative technique |
|
103 | |
| 13. The nature of judgment |
|
111 | |
| 14. The nature of discretion |
|
131 | |
| 15. The European Union and the HRA |
|
141 | |
| 16. The jurisprudential basis of the common law method |
|
157 | |
| 17. The common law system in America |
|
167 | |
| 18. Techniques of law management |
|
173 | |
| Chapter Summaries |
|
189 | |
| Books, articles, etc, referred to |
|
209 | |
| Index |
|
213 | |
The author was formerly one of the Parliamentary Counsel, responsible for drafting British legislation. His drafting work includes, among much constitutional and other legislation, the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. As a constitutional lawyer, he has also advised at various times the governments of Pakistan, Ghana, Jamaica, and Gibraltar. He drafted constitutions for Pakistan (1956) and Ghana (1959-1961) on those countries attaining the status of independent republics. He was also formerly law tutor at St Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford, and is currently a Research Associate of the University of Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.
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