Course

Statutory Interpretation - JURD7581

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 4

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Introduction to Law & Justice (LAWS1052/JURD7152) and Adminiatrative Law (LAWS1160/JURD7160); Co-requisite: Resolving Civil Disputes (LAWS2371/JURD7271) OR Litigation 1 (LAWS2311/JURD7211).

Excluded: LAWS3281

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

The course looks at how statutes have been read and are being read by Australian courts. There are three components: first, the process and formalities of enacting statutes; second, the principles invoked by courts to govern their interpretation; and third, the schools of interpretation currently in play. The focus of the course is on how courts have approached actual statutes and real interpretation problems, and on what these approaches suggest about the relationship between the judiciary and the legislature.

Main Topics
  • The legislative process.
  • Purpose, context and extrinsic materials in reading statutes.
  • Interpretation Acts and linguistic presumptions.
  • Substantive presumptions, including presumptions in protection of civil liberties.
  • Temporal and geographic limitations on statutes.
  • Inconsistencies, repeals, amendments and consolidations.
  • Statutes with a long judicial history, and the relationship between statutes and the common law.
  • Theories of interpretation.
More information can be found on the Course Outline Website.
Scientia

Study Levels

UNSW Quick Links