J. J. Spigelman (Supreme Court of New South Wales) has posted Statutory Interpretation: Identifying the Linguistic Register (Newcastle Law Review, Vol. 4, p. 1, 1999) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Legislation is at the heart of the modern legal system and statutory interpretation is an important, if not the most important, area of practice. This paper is concerned with one aspect of the law of statutory interpretation, namely, how the meaning of words capable of application at different levels of generality is determined. That is to say, when Parliament uses general words does it intend to encompass everything that is capable of falling within them? This paper surveys the contemporary approach to this question, which looks to context and background to qualify general words. It contrasts such an approach with new textualism. Also discussed is the practice of reading down general words that conflict with fundamental common law principles and the prospect of new fundamental principles being developed with reference to human rights and private international
Posted at 10:19 PM