“Q.1 (a) Why is it necessary for the judiciary to interpret statues? (B) Discuss the methods available to the judge for this task.”

Every year parliament passes several statutes. The meaning of the law in the case of the statutes should be clear and explicit; (achieving this task can be a problem at times). In order to help with the understanding of a statute parliament sometimes includes sections defining certain words used in that statute: such sections are called interpretation sections. In the Theft Act 1968, the definition of theft is given in section one and then sections 2 to 6 define the key words in that definition. The interpretation act 1978 was passed by parliament so that judges can avoid misinterpreting the general words used in the statues….(short extract)