COMPONENTS OF A STATUTE
1. Preamble
2. Enacting statement
3. Title/ citation
4. Purpose provisions
5. Commencement and duration provision
6. Application provision
7. Interpretation and definitions
8. Schedule
AIDS TO STATUTORY INTERPRETATION
-Statutory aids
-Non-statutory aids
Statutory aids
Are means contained in the Act that assist in interpretation of the statutes.
The components of a statute may be useful in the interpretation of certain
words and phrases used in the legislation.
e.g.
Under the interpretation section, certain words may be conferred a technical
meaning different from its colloquial meaning. Courts will consider the meaning
given under the statute first and will only resort to other means when the word or
phrase has not been defined under the Statute.
Non-Statutory Aids
Rules developed by the courts to help in the interpretation of statutes. These rules
take different approaches to interpretation of a legislation. The court is not limited
to the use of a particular rule, therefore a judge may choose one rule, while another
judge may prefer a different rule.Thus result in diverse decisions. They include:
- The plain meaning rule
- The Golden rule
- The Mischief rule
Plain meaning rule
