Introductory
1. Basic concepts I: common law statutes; the enactment; legal meaning; factual outline and legal thrust; implied ancillary rules
2. Basic concepts II: opposing constructions; literal, purposive and developmental interpretations
3. Grammatical and strained meanings
4. Consequential and rectifying constructions
5. Contradictory enactments and updating construction
6. Drafting techniques and the Interpretation Act
7. Transitional provisions and the Cohen question
8. Words in pairs
9. Rules of interpretation
10. Legal policy
11. Interpretative presumptions
12. Linguistic canons and interpretative technique
13. The nature of judgment
14. The nature of discretion
15. The European Union and the HRA

Many countries use and apply the common law. The common law world largely operates through statutes enacted by a country's democratic legislature. These statutes are drafted and interpreted according to a uniform system of rules, presumptions, principles and canons evolved over centuries by common law judges. In this book, Francis Bennion distills forty years of his prolific writings on statute law and statutory interpretation to provide valuable guidance on statutory interpretation applicable to all common law jurisdictions. ---provided by publisher