The ‘Always Speaking’ Approach to Statutes (and the Significance of Its Misapplication in Aubrey v The Queen)

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Meagher
Keyword(s):  
Statutory Interpretation ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
Difficult Question ◽  
Do So ◽  
Legal Meaning

This article clarifies the nature and scope of the ‘always speaking’ approach to statutes in Anglo-Antipodean law. To do so is important. For whilst it is now considered interpretive orthodoxy to treat statutes as ‘always speaking’, what that entails in terms of doctrine and application is not always clear. It is, however, recognised that whether or not a statute attracts the operation of the ‘always speaking’ approach can sometimes be a difficult question to answer. In order to do so judges have at their disposal the interpretive tools (and method) provided by the ‘modern approach’ to statutory interpretation. Indeed, in these cases maybe close attention to the contextualism which lies at the heart of the ‘modern approach’ is a more satisfactory way of determining the legal meaning of a statute than to presume that it is ‘always speaking’.

scholarly journals The Meaning of the Phrase τα στοιχεια του κοσμου in Galatians

2007 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTINUS C. DE BOER
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Difficult Question ◽  
The Law

This article seeks a fresh answer to the difficult question of the meaning of the phrase τα στοιχεια του κοσμου in Gal 4.3. The answer is sought by paying close attention to (1) the argumentative context of Paul's use of the phrase in the letter (he posits some sort of equivalence between the veneration of τα στοιχεια του κοσμου and the observance of the Law; he does so for contextually relevant theological and rhetorical reasons), and (2) the cultural-historical context of the addressees, the Gentile believers in Galatia (τα στοιχεια are ‘the gods’ they once venerated; this veneration involved calendrical observances).

Women Trafficking Problem in Assam

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-40
Author(s):  
Rupamjyoti Nath ◽  
Manjit Das
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Common People ◽  
Eastern State ◽  
The North ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The Government ◽  
Women Trafficking ◽  
Do So

The increasing numbers of newspaper reports on disappearing women from the north eastern state of Assam and especially from the economically backward areas of the state in recent years deserve close attention from both researchers' points of view as well as policy-level intervention of the larger community along with the government. This study makes an attempt to operate upon the menace area through the scalpel of game theory under the light of both primary and secondary data collected from the study area. It is an attempt to outline conscious human behaviour that leads to crimes such as women trafficking and identify the parameters controlling or affecting which types of crimes can be controlled. In order to do so, different distinct entities associated with the problem have been considered as different players leading to the concluding indication of prevailing flaws in the legal system of the country along with lack of employment opportunities and mass ignorance about the problem in hand among common people as the major reasons.

The Plain Meaning Rule: A Quibble about Nomenclature and a Lot More

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilika H Simamba
Keyword(s):  
Cayman Islands ◽  
Statutory Interpretation ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Legal Meaning

Abstract In the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, the proper understanding of the plain meaning rule (or literal rule) of statutory interpretation remains unclear. In its most basic iteration, the rule states that, where a statute is clear and unambiguous, the words must be given their natural and ordinary signification; there is no room for interpretation. That notwithstanding, to this day, even the meaning of the rule, as opposed to its application, still sometimes sparks debate in the Commonwealth. In 2015, a judge of the Grand Court in Cayman held that once a provision in a statute is clear and unambiguous, a court does not need to read the provision in its broader context. In a subsequent case, in 2018, a court of coordinate jurisdiction disagreed. It ruled that, even where a provision appears to be clear and unambiguous, a court must still read the statute in its fuller context in order to decipher the legal meaning in that particular context. This article discusses the plain meaning rule with a view to elucidating its proper understanding while questioning the appropriateness of its continuing nomenclature especially in light of developments in recent decades.

Contextualism: ‘The Modern Approach to Statutory Interpretation’

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Statutory Interpretation ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
High Court ◽  
Football Club ◽  
High Court Of Australia ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The widespread realisation that ‘[l]egislation is the cornerstone of the modern legal system’ (Justice McHugh) has brought increased judicial and scholarly attention to legislation’s partner, statutory interpretation. In CIC Insurance Ltd v Bankstown Football Club Ltd (1997) 187 CLR 384 the High Court of Australia referred to the ‘modern approach to statutory interpretation’. That modern approach has subsequently been called ‘contextualism’. The central questions addressed in this article are: what is contextualism? Is it principled? And is it a coherent general approach? After stating and illustrating key principles from six High Court cases, the author considers challenges to contextualism, including textualism and purposivism. Like the statutes it monitors, statutory interpretation may be ‘broad and deep and variegated’, as Lord Wilberforce once observed. But, at the same time, it is concluded that statutory interpretation does not lack a general approach that lends coherence to the interpretative enterprise – for contextualism performs this function.

Dimensions of Cultural Variation

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Multilevel Modeling ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Measurement Bias ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The Social ◽  
Do So

To understand cultural differences, we need to find ways to characterize the variations in the social contexts in which people are located. To do so, we must focus on differences between contexts rather than differences between individuals. Most research of this type has examined differences between nations in terms of dimensions. Treating each nation as a unit, contrasts have been identified in terms of values, beliefs, self-descriptions, and social norms. The most influential difference identified concerned the dimension of individualism–collectivism, which has provided the theoretical framework for numerous studies. The validity of this type of investigation rests on close attention to aspects of measurement to ensure that respondents are able to make the necessary judgments and to respond in ways that are not affected by measurement bias. Where many nations are sampled, multilevel modeling can be used to show the ways in which dimensions of culture affect social behaviors.

The ‘Modern Approach’ to Statutory Interpretation and the Principle of Legality: An Issue of Coherence?

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-425
Author(s):  
Dan Meagher
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Statutory Interpretation ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
High Court ◽  
Ordinary Meaning ◽  
Interpretive Approach ◽  
Principle Of Legality

The ‘modern approach’ to interpretation requires that effect be given to the ordinary meaning of a statutory text in its wider context and with reference to its purpose. This article interrogates the interpretive approach used by the High Court in fundamental rights cases to assess its compatibility with this ‘modern approach’. It asks, specifically, whether the strict text-based approach used in these cases (which involves the application of the principle of legality) is sufficient to determine the meaning of ambiguous statutory texts. The argument made is that the coherent application of the ‘modern approach’ requires that this interpretive approach be justified.

scholarly journals The Evidence of What Cannot Be Heard: Reading Trauma into and Testimony against the Witness Stand at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Viebach
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Traumatic Experience ◽  
Legal Narratives ◽  
Do So ◽  
Legal Meaning

This paper explores the silences and the gaps that cut through witness testimonies at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) by applying a trauma lens to the narratives that emerge on the witness stand and by contrasting those with a survivor testimony. It compares the recollection of a traumatic experience with the production of legal meaning. To do so, it focuses specifically on a survivor testimony shared with the author at the Rwandan Nyange memorial in 2014 where the crimes in question happened, and the ICTR The Prosecutor vs Athanase Seromba trial that relates to the events at that particular site. This paper shows that the experience of trauma not only challenges the language of law but also blurs the legal narratives and functions of tribunals like the ICTR.

scholarly journals La representaci�_n de la literatura indigenista e ind�_gena en dos obras Colombianas: Jos̩ Tomb̩ de Diego Castrill�_n Arboleda y En Defensa de mi Raza de Manuel Quint�_n Lame

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elkin Javier Perez Arroyo
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Indigenous Literature ◽  
Literary Movement ◽  
Strongly Connected ◽  
Andean Countries ◽  
Do So

This dissertation is a study of the Indian's problem that is depicted in the Andean narrative of Indigenist, Indianist and Indigenous literature and how the literary movement of Indiginism created a wave of reivindicative narrative through Latin-America, especially in countries like: Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Through a theory approach, my study analyzes the most important indigenist narrative in Latin-America and how this theory could be applied to two Colombian writers that can be considered as indigenist and indigenous. To do so, I examine the work of a variety of indigenists and indigenous writes and theorists -- Diego Castrill�_n Arboleda Jose Tomb̩ (1942) y El Indio Quintin Lame (1973), Manuel Quintin Lame En Defensa de mi Raza (1987). Furthermore, this dissertation has taken into account the important contribution made by theorists in the field of indigenists studies such as: Antonio Cornejo Polar, Jos̩ Carlos Mari��tegui, Tom��s Escajadillo, among others. My research pays close attention to two important writings that will aid in understanding Indiginism as a literary movement in Colombia, Jose Tombe and En Defensa de mi Raza. By the beginning of the 20th century indigenist writers, through their novels, were advocating for the Indigenous communities throughout the Andean region. In Colombia, this advocation was not taking place in a similar way to the rest on the Andean countries with a strong indigenous influence. I have concluded these two writings are strongly connected to this literary movement. That conclusion is largely based upon an analysis of the characteristics in these works which led me to categorize Jose Tomb̩ as an indigenist novel and En Defensa de mi Raza as an indigenous written work. All the narratives that are part of this research project will provide valuable information about Indiginism as a literary movement in Colombia. Most importantly, it will add these two works to the existence of what is considered the indigenist and indigenous canon.

scholarly journals Protection of Copyright in Foreign Works in Nigeria: An Analysis of the Decision in Voice Web International Limited v Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Ltd & Ors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adebambo Adewopo ◽  
Nkem Itanyi
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
Copyright Law ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
Recent Case ◽  
Statutory Interpretation ◽  
Legislative History ◽  
Telecommunication Services ◽  
Do So

Abstract The protection for copyright in foreign works in Nigeria has been a contentious and controversial issue for over three decades. In this case analysis, through a trilogy of cases, we trace the judicial trend and jurisprudence on this issue of copyright law. We argue that although Sec. 5 and Sec. 41 of the Nigerian Copyright Act provide two methods by which foreign works can receive protection under the Act, the courts have repeatedly declined to confer such protection. The most recent case on this issue, Voice Web International Limited v Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Ltd & Ors, provided an opportunity for the courts to lay the issue to rest; however, unfortunately, the courts again failed to do so. In this opinion, we critically examine the case and discuss the legislative history conferring protection to foreign works. We conclude that the correct statutory interpretation in determining the protection of foreign works is reciprocity, and this was satisfied in the case under review.

Lord Burrows on Legislative Intention, Statutory Purpose, and the ‘Always Speaking’ Principle

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Goldsworthy
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
Statutory Interpretation ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
Uk Supreme Court ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Text Context

Abstract In his 2017 Hamlyn Lectures, Professor (now Lord) Burrows set out his opinions about statutory interpretation. Given his recent appointment to the UK Supreme Court, these opinions now have more practical importance than those of most academic theorists. One of his main theses is that the modern approach to statutory interpretation, which focuses on text, context and purpose, should not include any reference to legislative intention. He dismisses this as ‘an unhelpful fiction or mask that should be avoided altogether’. I show that this thesis is mistaken, internally inconsistent, and might in practice undermine sound interpretation based on fundamental constitutional principles.

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