Open AccessAscertaining the Meaning of Legislation - A Question of Context
Author(s) -
Cathy Nijman
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
victoria university of wellington law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1179-3082
pISSN - 1171-042X
DOI - 10.26686/vuwlr.v38i3.5538
Subject(s) - parliament , statutory interpretation , interpretation (philosophy) , context (archaeology) , meaning (existential) , legislation , law , statutory law , judicial interpretation , political science , section (typography) , law and economics , sociology , epistemology , business , history , linguistics , politics , philosophy , advertising , archaeology
It has been said that "no word in an Act can be safely interpreted out of its context". Yet, Parliament was sufficiently concerned about the courts' use of external context as an aid to statutory interpretation to decide consciously to omit reference to "context" when enacting section 5(1) of the Interpretation Act 1999. This paper investigates the reasons for Parliament's concern. It examines cases decided before and after the enactment of section 5(1) to establish past and present judicial practice when using external context as an interpretive aid. The paper concludes that the omission of "context from section 5(1) has not altered the courts' principled approach to matters of interpretation, and it demonstrates that consideration of external context is an essential corollary to the purposive approach to statutory interpretation mandated by Parliament for over 100 years.