Legislative Drafting and Statutory Interpretation, Nature and Classification of Legislation,

Importance, Legislation is the primary source of law in civil law states, Trade Commerce Health, etc.,
Affairs of government, banks, etc., The age of common law is over and now it is age of statutes,
Nature, Legislation is the end product of the legislative process, Attorney General vs. Sepala
Ekanayake, 75 constitution, 13 (6) constitution no person shall be held guilty for act omission that is
not an offence at time except under international law, Queen vs. Liyanage, Legislation is to be
generally applied, not ad hoc, Ad hominem or ex post facto, Classification, Primary and subordinate
legislation, Regulations, proclamations, emergency regulations, etc., Powell vs. May procedural
substantive ultra vires, Ran Banda vs. River Valley Development Board, Federal and State legislation,
Commonwealth vs. Tasmania, Central and devolved legislation, 13th Amendment, Provincial Council
Act 1986, Classification, By subject matter, chronologically, and alphabetically etc., Challenges in
Drafting, Legislation Drafting, Stakeholder’s consensus, Government policies, Must be in plain
language and no excess words, Lord Thring, legislative drafting is to be treated as an art, Science
consistency with policies, the Constitution and human rights, Preparatory Challenges, Understand
bilateral, multilateral and plurilateral, Preservation, Interpretation, Understanding, Declaration,
Compositional Challenges, Use a good legislative design to enhance clarity and understanding,
Preliminary provisions long title, short title, preamble, etc., Substantive administrative provisions,
Final miscellaneous provisions, Offences, Better to have textual than referential, Consistent with the
delegated power, Not ultra vires the principal Act, Anatomy of a Statute, (1) Long Title, general
purpose of the Act, (2) Preamble, why it is being enacted, Burrakur Coal v India, Devenish,
“Unqualified” guide ascertaining Parliament intention,” (3) Short Title, Lord Diplock not be used
Marginal Note, Rex v Mantila, In Sri Lanka the marginal note are debated, (4) Proviso, Ismale
Lebbe v Jayawardena, (5) Headings, Thornton “A heading is a label or a sign post but no
more,” (6) Interpretation Clauses, Restrictive definition, Browns vs. Anderson, (7) Punctuation
Marks, Marshal v Cottingham “punctuation is normally an aid and no more,” (8) Schedule, subsidiary
to the main provisions, Dualist and Monist, Primary Rules, Literal Rule, The intention of ordinary and
literal meaning, Sussex Peerage case, Felix vs. Thomas ‘any place is not ‘any public place,’ Stassen
Export vs. Brookebond Limited, Somawathie vs. Weerasinghe, Ebrahim vs. Minister of the Interior,
South African Citizenship, Promotes consistency neutrality of the courts, Separation of power, judges
from being creative, Lead to absurdities or inconveniences, Golden Rule, Corocraft Limited vs. Pan
American Airways, the literal rule is disallowed if it results in absurdities, Becke vs. Smith, language
varied to avoid the inconvenience of absurdity, Lee vs. Knapp the law was to stop a the vehicle after
a road traffic accident, It addresses absurdities, protects, practicality and creates public trust,
Violates the doctrine of separation of powers as judges depend on the opinion of judges that one
judgment leads to another, Mischief Rule, Haydon’s case, What was the common law prior enacting
of the statute, What was the mischief that the common law didn’t provide for, What remedy did
Parliament resort to What was the true reason for the remedy, Rana vs. Kiribindu, Smith vs. Hughes,
prostitutes can beat at street or in balconies, Dorothy Silva vs. Inspector of Police any premises, gives
effect to the intention of Parliament It promotes the practicality of the law, violates the doctrine of
separation of powers as intention of the legislature might be construed wrongly, Ut Res Magis Valeat
Quam Pereat, It is better for a thing to have effect than to be made void), Trinidad Cement Company
vs. Attorney General, Manchester Shipping Company vs. Manchester Racecourse Company,
Nandasena vs. Senanayake, Lands Sri Lanka Insurance vs. Ranasinghe, repealed law, Noscitur A
Sociis, (A meaning of a word can be gathered from its context), Attorney General vs. Prince Earnest
Augustus of Hanover, Gunasinghe vs. De Silva, biting was cutting, Bengali vs. Bell, Punch Company,
floor, passage, Doctor Devendra vs. State of Gujarat, dispensary Shop, Ejusdem Generis Principle
Shirani Bandaranaike, Sohli Captain vs. Commissioner of Inland Revenue, ‘cosmetics, perfume, hair
dressing, Wood vs. Metropolitan Police Commission ‘any gun, pistol, hanger, cut glass, Expressio
Unius Est Exclusio Alterius, R vs. Secretary of State for the Home Department, the word parent
meant the mother of an illegitimate child, implicitly excluding the father, Purposive Rule, Purpose of
the Act passed by the Parliament, Pepper vs. Hart Hansard was Income Tax Act, Sriyani Silva vs.
Iddamalgoda, 17 and 126 (2) constitution, Liyanage vs. Gampaha Urban Council, purpose of the Act,
Sriyani Silva vs. Iddamalgoda, Dynamic Rule, development of the golden rule, to interpret the
Constitution, human rights instruments and international treaties, Brown vs. Board of Education,
Queen vs. Liyanage, Singrasa, Attorney General vs. Sepala Ekanayake, Noble Resources International
vs. Hon Ranjith Sigambalapiliya, Judicial or Free Theory, creative role of the judge, subjective theory,
drawing a distinction between language and thought and ideas, value coherent theory, spirit and the
words of the judicial interpretation, objective theory, Act is an independent document 1, An
act of God causes legal injury to no one, 2, Audi alteram partem Equal opportunity, 3,
Nemo Judex in Sua Causa, 4, Res judicata (double jeopardy), 5, Delgatus Non Potest
Delegare, 6, Volenti Non Fit Injuria, 7, Generalia Specialibus Non Derogant, 8, Necessity
knows no law, 9, Lex Non Cogit Ad Impossibilia, 10, Expressio Unis Est Exclusion
Alterius, 11, A person alleging his own wrongdoing is not to be heard, mandatory or directory,
Most = mandatory, Shall = directory, Liverpool Borough Bank vs. Turner, court must Discover
Parliament’s intention, Nikisimane vs. Santam, Insurance, French vs. Guyney, Shall = May, Rai
Wimal Krishna vs. State of Bihar, Public notice mandatory & Way to publication was directory,
Attorney General vs. Samantha Sampath, Wanasundara J Retuses to hold mandatory punishment of
7 Year and confined 2 year decided by CA, External Aids to Statutory, Devenish informed
interpretation, Parliamentary material, Judicial materials, International treaties, Historical
Background Agni vs. Gallahar, Hansard reports, Attorney General vs. Livera, Ellawala vs. Wijesundara,
historical context would be of aid Hansards, Millar vs. Tailor, Knuller vs. Director of Public
Prosecutions, homosexual, Beswick vs. Beswick, Pepper vs. Hart, An ambiguity in language or
absurdity arising from the literal interpretation of language must prevail, parliamentary material
must manifest the mischief sought to be remedied or legislative intent, Minister’s second reading
speech which restricts the ambit of the application, finality clauses, final and conclusive
Interpretation Ordinance Section 22, The decision is ex facie outside the powers conferred, Improper
procedure was adopted, Violation of natural justice is resultant, Ladamutthupillai vs. Attorney
General, James vs. Paddy Board of Review, Wijewardena vs. Peoples Bank, statutory authorities have
made orders outside their jurisdiction, Shirani Bandaranaike’s 168 constitution was given effect on
the decision of Parliamentary Select Committee being final and conclusive, Aubrey Norton, Attorney
General of Guyana, EC final and conclusive, Lestrade vs. Speaker of House of Assembly,
Abeywickrama vs. Pathirana, Premachandra vs. Montigue Jayawickrama, Weeraratne vs. Percy Colin
Thome, Fernendo vs. Gunawardana, Withnarachi V,s llukkumbura, Repeal and Revival, 75
constitution only Parliament shall have the power to make and unmake laws, 6 (1) Interpretation
Ordinance repealing completely, 6 (2) repeal will not take effect until the substituted provision
comes into effect, 6 (3) Interpretation Ordinance unless expressly provided for, repeals not affect a
former written law, 15 Interpretation Ordinance any subsidiary legislation made under a repealed
law will remain under, 16 Reference made to any repealed law will be deemed as made to the new
law, Abbot vs. Minister of Lands mere right remand under, advantage is not right acquired, Stowers
vs. Darnell, conviction on old act not valid, Retrospective, 75 constitution Parliament has the power
to enact retrospective legislation, 13 (6) no person shall be held guilty for an act or omission which
didn’t at the time an offence nor a penalty more than that at the time of act Retrospective legislation
vested rights Retroactive legislation existing rights, West vs. Gwyenne, Young vs. Adams, De Mel vs.
De Mel, Subramaniam Chettiar vs. Hameed, if the law is beneficial it would be accepted, Sepal
Ekanayake vs. Attorney General, retrospective law can be accepted in ratification of international
hijacking,