Extrinsic & Intrinsic Aids PDF

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Extrinsic & Intrinsic Aids...

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Extrinsic & Intrinsic aids Intrinsic aids 1. Long title  gives indication to purpose and content  similar position to preamble 2. Preamble  describes the purpose of Act in greater detail than long title  sets forth needs and intended effect for the legislation  commonly found in emergency legislation but not uncommon in others *affecting social liberty, social rights 3. Short title  normal way in referring statute  part of legislation used as aid 4. Schedule  at end of statutes  contain matters such as definition of terms, classifications, repeals of pre-existing legislations  every schedule at act or subsidiary legislation have effect as part of act Mohd Syedol Ariffin v Yeoh  “..their Lordships are of the opinion that in the construction of the Evidence Act, it is the duty of a court of law to accept if that can be done – the illustrations given as being both of relevance and value in the construction of the text. The illustrations should in no case be rejected because they do not square with ideas possibly derived from another system of jurisprudence as to the law with which they or the sections deal. And it would require a very special case to warrant their rejection on the ground of their assumed repugnancy to the sections themselves. It would be the very last resort of construction to make any such assumption. The great usefulness of the illustrations, which have, although not part of the sections, been expressly furnished by the legislature as helpful in the working and application of the statute should not be thus impaired” 5. Divisions  Interpretation Acts 1948 and 1967 when act/subsidiary legislation divided into 2 parts, fact and particulars of division shall (without express mention in the statutes) be taken notice of in all courts and for all purposes 6. Marginal Notes Foo Loke Ying v Television Broadcasts Ltd A side note or marginal note to a section is part of the statute. It may be considered in construing the section or any other provision of the statute, provided due account is taken of the fact that its function is merely to serve as a brief guide to the content of the section.

7. Punctuations Dato Mohamed Hashim Shamsuddin v AG, Hong Kong its punctuation forms part of any statutory enactment and may be used as a guide to interpretation. The day is long past when the courts would pay no need to punctuation in any written law and the presence of a comma may be highly significant……

Extrinsic aids  Extrinsic materials refer to materials outside a statute- POLICIES, PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES ETC  A wealth of materials relating to legislation exist such as o records of parliamentary debate o report of a committee that prompted the enactment of a particular statute o international agreements that require the passing of laws by government to meet its obligations etc.  The common law rules do not permit the use such extrinsic materials – judges are precluded from seeking assistance from these materials. However, there is a moving trend towards allowing the use of these materials in line with the purposive approach in interpretation. In Australia for e.g. there exist certain legislation expressly allowing the use of such materials.

1. Dictionaries Can be used by the judge where a word has no specific legal meaning. But one must be careful as words can change meaning by dint Of time, usage and context. Flack v Baldry Concerned the legality of possessing a ‘stun gun’ which could administer an electric shock of 46,000 volts. Query: Did this offend against the Firearms Act 1968 as a ‘weapon designed for the discharge of any noxious liquid, gas or other things? The court found that ‘discharge’ had a dictionary meaning of ‘emit’ rather than ‘physical ejection’, so the ‘stun gun’ was caught by the Act

2. Travaux Prėparatoires = preparatory works  In the English context it refers to the consideration of public materials by the courts in order to discern the purpose of legislation.  e.g. the reports or working papers (but not the recommendations) of law reform bodies such as the Law Commission or Criminal Law Revision Committee.

3. Hansard = Parliamentary debates  Traditionally Hansard could not be referred to explicitly by a Court in order to gauge Parliament’s attention.  But this was changed in 1992 via Pepper v Hart Pepper v Hart  By a 6 to 1 majority the HoLs decided to allow reference to be made to Hansard in limited circumstances:  Legislation is ambiguous or obscure, or leads to an absurdity;

 The material relied upon consists of one or more statements by a minister or other promoter of the Bill, together if necessary with such other Parliamentary material as is necessary to understand such statements and their effects;  The statements relied upon are clear.  In this case, the effect of permitting reference to Hansard was that the literal meaning of the statute in question was not followed.

Locally, the restrictive approach has been progressively relaxed. When the HOLs decided to allow reference to parliamentary materials to interpret words of a statute subject to certain conditions, it was adopted in Malaysia in Chor Phaik Har v Farlim Properties [1994] 3 MLJ 345....