INTERPRETATIONOFSTATUTES

March21,2016(http://www.djetlawyer.com/interpretationofstatutes/) OlanrewajuOlamide
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/author/olyray/) NIGERIANLEGALSYSTEM
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/nigerianlegalsystem/)

WhatTheInterpretationofStatutesIsAllAbout
The interpretation of statutes is very essential to the administration of justice. They are
thetoolsthatjudgesusetoreadmeaningtoprovisionsofthelawinordertojustifytheir
decisions.Interpretationofstatutesisaveryimportantissuewhichisnotmadeeasydue
tovaryingfactors.
Oneofthemisthatwordsdonotusuallyhavestaticmeanings.theusageofsomewords
change with time. This then makes the interpretation of statutes not as simple as one
wouldthink.Also,therecouldbecaseswherethedirectinterpretationofwordscouldlead
toabsurdity.Ortherecouldalsobesituationswheretheintentionofthelegislatureisnot
wellexpressedintheinterpretationofstatutes.
What then are these rules of interpretation of statutes? Ordinarily, there three rules of
interpretationofstatutes.Theyare:
TheLiteralrule
TheGoldenrule
TheMischiefrule

TheLiteralRule
Thisruleprovidesthatwherethejudiciaryisfacedwiththeinterpretationofstatutes,the
ordinary grammatical meaning of the word should be applied. There should be no
addition,subtractionorextensionofthemeanings.Itshouldbethewayitwasprovided
bythelegislature.
However,ifthisruleisfollowedtothelatter,therewouldbesomeproblems.forexample,
somewordschangetheirmeaningovertime.Thusifastatuteisinterpretedliterally,the
meaning of the word when the legislature used it could be different from the meaning
whenitisinterpreted.Also,thereistheproblemofwordswithmultiplemeanings.

In the case of R vs Bangaza, the supreme court was faced with the problem of
interpretingtheprovisionsofS.319(2)ofthecriminalcode1954.Inthiscase,theliteral
rulewasappliedtotheextreme.Thisisduetothefactthatthesupremecourtinterpreted
theprovisionofthelawtomeanthatageofliabilityistheageofconvictionandnotthe
age of commission. Thus, the accused who was charged for murder was given capital
punishmenteventhoughthecrimewascommittedbeforeheattainedtheageofmajority.
Also, in the case of Adegbenro vs Akintola the judicial committee of the privy council
interpretedtheprovisionsofS.33(10)oftheWesternregionconstitutionwhichprovided
that the premier could remove the governor if it seemed to him that he no longer
commanded the loyalty of majority of house members. The privy council ruled that the
waybywhichhecomestothisconclusionisonlybywhathedetermines.Evenifitwasin
the form of a dream or vision it would still be valid according to the provision of the
constitution.
It should be noted that in these two above mentioned cases the provisions of the law
whichwerecontroversialwerelateramendedtoremovetheabsurdity.Thisgoestoshow
that the way of controlling misinterpretation of legislation through the literal rule is by
amending the provisions of the statute. it should also be noted that this rule is usually
appliedwheretheprovisionsofthelawareclearandunambiguous.

TheGoldenRule
The golden rule was formulated in the case of BeckvsSmith where it was provided that the literal
interpretation of a statute should be used only to the extent that it would not produce absurdity or
negatefromtheintentionofthelegislature.Iftheliteralinterpretationofthestatuteweretoproduce
absurdity,thentheintentionofthelegislatureshouldbeapplied.

The golden rule was applied in the case of Council of University of Ibadan vs
AdamolekunwherethecourthadtointerprettheprovisionofS.3(4)oftheconstitution
(suspension and modification decree) of 1966 which states that where an edict is in
conflictwithadecree,theedictistobecomevoidtotheextentofitsinconsistencywith
thedecree.However,inS.6itwasprovidedthatnoquestionastothevalidityofadecree
oredictwastobeentertainedinacourt.Thecourtruledthatitwouldleadtoabsurdityto
literallyinterprettheprovisionofS.6duetothefactthatifitdid,howthenwoulditbe
able to enforce the provisions of S.3(4). Thus, the edict was held to be voided by the
provisionsofS.3(4).

TheMischiefRule
This rule means that in the interpretation of statute, the court should determine the
mischiefwhichthelegislatureintendedtocorrectinthelegislationbygoingintoavoyage
ofdiscoverytodeterminethehistoryofthelegislation.However,itshouldbenotedhat
noteverylegislationismadetocorrectamischief.Also,howdeepshouldthejudgesgoin
making a voyage of discovery? It would be difficult if the particular judge is not well
versedinhistory.
InAkerelevsInspector general ofpolice, the court was faced with the interpretation of
the meaning of the word accuse in S.210(b) of the criminal code 1948. It rejected the
argumentperAdemolaJ(ashethenwas)thatthewordmeantswearingunderoath.He

said that by going into a short history of that section, its intention was to prohibit the
practiceofindiscriminateaccusationsofwitchcraftandtrialbyordeal.

TheEjusDemGenerisRule
This rule means that when a general word or term is used alongside a specific word or
term, the meaning of the general word should be in line with the specific words. For
example, where the law uses cats, dogs, goats, chickens and other animals of such
kind. The meaning of other animals should be domestic animals because the specific
wordsusedweredomesticanimals.

WhyAreStatutesInterpreted
Tobeabletoenforcethelaw.
To avoid the miscarriage of justice which could be the case if statutes are wrongly
interpreted.
Sharethis:

(http://www.djetlawyer.com/interpretation-of-statutes/?share=facebook&nb=1)
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/interpretation-of-statutes/?share=twitter&nb=1)
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/interpretation-of-statutes/?share=google-plus-1&nb=1)
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/interpretation-of-statutes/?share=email&nb=1)

Related

PRIMARYSOURCESOF
LAW:RECEIVEDENGLISH
LAW
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/
receivedenglishlaw/)
May25,2016
In"NIGERIANLEGAL
METHOD"

NIGERIANLEGALMETHOD
II
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/
nigerianlegalmethodii/)
November11,2015
In"NIGERIANLEGAL
METHOD"

COMPARISONBETWEEN
TORTSANDOTHER
ASPECTSOFLAW
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/
comparisontortsaspects
law/)
March22,2016
In"THELAWOFTORTS"

LEAVEAREPLY

Youremailaddresswillnotbepublished.Requiredfieldsaremarked*
Comment

Name*

Email*

Website

POSTCOMMENT

Notifymebyemailwhenthecommentgetsapproved.
Notifymeoffollowupcommentsbyemail.
Notifymeofnewpostsbyemail.

LEGALSYSTEM:MEANINGANDTYPES(http://www.djetlawyer.com/meaningtypeslegalsystems/)

THESUPREMECOURTOFNIGERIA(http://www.djetlawyer.com/supremecourt/)

Search

SUBSCRIBETOBLOGVIAEMAIL

Toreceivenewpostsbyemail,pleaseenteryouremailintheboxbelow.
EmailAddress
SUBSCRIBE

LIKEFACEBOOKPAGE(HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/THEJETLAWYER
1595279547388119/)

TheJetLawyer
409likes

LikePage

Share

Bethefirstofyourfriendstolikethis

CATEGORIES
LAW OF AGENCY (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/lawofagency/)
LAW OF CONTRACT (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/lawofcontract/)
LAW OF HIRE PURCHASE (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/lawofhirepurchase/)
NEWS (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/news/)
NIGERIAN COMMERCIAL LAW (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/nigeriancommercial
law/)
NIGERIAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/nigerian
constitutionallaw/)
NIGERIAN CRIMINAL LAW (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/nigeriancriminallaw/)
NIGERIAN LEGAL METHOD (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/nigerianlegalmethod/)
NIGERIAN LEGAL SYSTEM (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/nigerianlegalsystem/)
OPINION (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/opinion/)
THE LAW OF TORTS (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/thelawoftorts/)
Uncategorized (http://www.djetlawyer.com/category/uncategorized/)

|Home|(http://www.djetlawyer.com)ContactUs|(http://www.djetlawyer.com/contactus/)AboutUs|
(http://www.djetlawyer.com/about/)PrivacyPolicy|(http://www.djetlawyer.com/privacypolicy?)
OlanrewajuOlamide2016