Professional Documents
Culture Documents
• Rigidity
• No scope for future changes
• Possible unfair and unjust outcomes
Advantages of the intrinsic aids
• Long title can remind judges of what they are
trying to achieve – mischief/purposive
approach – Black-Cawson (1975)
• Preamble, objectives or puposes sections help
when applying mischief/purposive approach
• Schedules help understand the provisions of
an act – easy to reference
• Definition section helps with interpreting
words
Disadvantages of the intrinsic aids
• Doubt as to whether punctuation should be
taken into account – wasn’t used prior to 1850
Advantages of the extrinsic aids
• Dictionaries help when using literal approach
• Referring to acts can help with interpreting
mischief
• Commission reports help when applying
mischief/purposive approach
• Hansard is a very useful tool – Davis v Johnson
• Explanatory notes use more accessible
language
Disadvantages of the extrinsic aids
• Dictionaries do not help when looking at
parliament’s intention
• Interpretation Act is limited in scope and not
very technical or specialised
• Commission reports can be erroneous –
Anderton v Ryan
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