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Three Traditional Rules Of Statutory Interpretation

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There are three traditional rules of statutory interpretation:
• the literal rule
• the golden rule
• the mischief rule
The three traditional rules of the statutory interpretation form a hierarchical order i.e the court must apply the literal rule first, and if the rule seems ambiguity, then the golden rule can be used and if the golden rule doesn’t make any progress in the decision taken by the court, the mischief rule can then be applied in the court. The mischief rule and the golden rule are mostly used in court decisions because of the meaning and the effect they give towards legal decisions.
Literal rule
The literal rule is one of the rules used in interpreting statutes and this is always the first rule used by the judge to interpret statutes before applying the other rules in the court. The rule interprets the words of the statute purely and it is according to their literal meaning. When using the literal rule, the court should ensure that the statutes are interpreted plainly and given ordinary meaning without minding the outcome of the interpretation might result to or be. Under this rule, the judge is not supposed to divert from the statute’s true meaning and it is advisable the judge should consider the simplicity of the words of the statute. When applying this rule, the judge has to give the statute a natural and ordinary meaning. The judge is not to make the words of the statute complicated and the application of those words in the court proceeding. The decisions
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