The judges mainly rely on a various principles when interpreting the acts of parliament. These rules include:
- The literal rule.
- The golden rule.
- The mischief rule.
The literal rule
It is the cardinal rule of construction (interpretation) of statutes. In this rule, words must be given their ordinary, literal, grammatical meaning. The literal rule is the first rule to be used in establishing the intention of the legislature.
In many cases, the courts are normally required to interpret the meaning of a given piece of legislation to enable them apply facts to the cases that come before the judges. As such, the courts have continually developed a wide range of rules of interpretation to assist ...