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Statutory Interpretation - Week 3 (Application - has two main functions…
Statutory Interpretation - Week 3
Interpretation Legislation
Commonwealth - Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth)
Queensland - Acts Interpretation Act 1954 (Qld)
Slightly different in QLD - There exists a specific schedule to the Statutory Instruments Act
s 46 (Cth) - this Act applies to any instrument so made as if it were an Act and as if each provision of the instrument were a section of an Act
In most jurisdictions interpretation legislation applies to both Primary and Delegated legislation
Application - has two main functions
Time - Expressed to begin from a specific day -
Does not include that day -
Expressed to begin after a specified day -
Does not include that day -
Expressed to end before a specified day -
does not include that day
Cth - to be measured in straight line on the horizontal plane - QLD - along the shortest road ordinarily used for travelling
Age - just after midnight on your birthday
Gender - one gender includes "every other gender"
One of major rules is to consider the underlying
purpose of the legislation
rather than rely on the literal interpretation ** :
Not a new convention - ie. commercial documents have "boilerplate" provisions - which deal with gender, age, number etc
such as gender, age, number, distance and time - prevents unnecessary repetition
SECOND FUNCTION - provides guidance to courts regarding the methods to be employed to interpret legislation
FIRST FUNCTION - Defines certain generic terms which can be imported into all legislation unless specifically excluded
Meaning of May and Shall
Qld Act - 32CA - may = discretion; must = required to be exercised
Project Blue Sky Inc v Australian Broadcasting Authority (1998)
Commencement Date
Cth - 28 days after receipt of Royal Assent - unless contrary intention appears
QLD, SA & NT - day of assent
NSW & WA - 28 days from date of assent
Tas - 14 days of assent
Amendment - look for "unless otherwise provided in the Act"
World Youth Day Amendment Act (2007) Cth which expired the day after the amendments were introduced
In ACT amending laws are automatically repealed on the day after all of their provisions have commenced
Note difference between reprint & a consolidating act - reprint is an administrative act, pulling the various amendments into one convenience volume - a consolidating act is an exercise of legislative power
Where an amending act repeals part of an existing act, the existing provisions remain in force until the new act comes into force
Significant cases re amendments -
Sarawasati v r (1991) & Maxwell v Murphy (1957)