Statutory Interpretation in Australia is one of the most cited books in judgments of Australian courts & tribunals. It has been there for the last 40 years to assist lawyers and judges in any case that required interpretation of legislation. It has become a vital tool of practice for anyone engaged in statutory interpretation.Geddes UNE; Pearce ANU.

This book is the first of its kind to provide a clearly written and comprehensive overview of public law principles, together with the principles and process of statutory interpretation. The former inform the fundamental nature of the Australian legal system; the latter is vital knowledge in a legal system in which statute law is so pervasive. This approach is consistent with the contemporary case law of the Australian High Court, emphasising that the principles of statutory interpretation reflect the constitutional relationship between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.More particularly, the book provides:an overview of the origins and key stages in the development of the Australian legal system;an explanation of the concepts and ideals that form the foundation of Australian public law;an introduction to the institutions, structures and powers of, and relationships between, the three branches of the Australian government; andan explanation of how, in light of key public law principles, legislation is interpreted by Australia's courts.This book will be useful to scholars and practitioners seeking to understand the foundational principles of Australian public law, or statutory interpretation. The four authors, all experienced researchers and teachers in public law, designed it to be a complete resource for introductory public law units, before students move on to more advanced subjects such as Constitutional and Administrative Law.The book adopts an engaging and approachable style with expository and analytical text, combined with carefully edited extracts of key cases and straightforward commentary on both foundational and advanced issues. It also includes:several in-depth case studies, which provide an opportunity to engage with pressing public law issues in a practical context;discussion questions, reflective exercises and other activities, to demonstrate the contemporary significance of the issues explored in the text.

Provides a comprehensive account of the Australian law of interpretation. It covers interpretation in public law, private law and international law, as well as the interpretation of case law.

Contrary to traditional theories of statutory interpretation, which ground statutes in the original legislative text or intent, legal scholar William Eskridge argues that statutory interpretation changes in response to new political alignments, new interpreters, and new ideologies. It does so, first of all, because it involves richer authoritative texts than does either common law or constitutional interpretation: statutes are often complex and have a detailed legislative history. Second, Congress can, and often does, rewrite statutes when it disagrees with their interpretations; and agencies and courts attend to current as well as historical congressional preferences when they interpret statutes. Third, since statutory interpretation is as much agency-centered as judgecentered and since agency executives see their creativity as more legitimate than judges see theirs, statutory interpretation in the modern regulatory state is particularly dynamic. Eskridge also considers how different normative theories of jurisprudence--liberal, legal process, and antiliberal--inform debates about statutory interpretation. He explores what theory of statutory interpretation--if any--is required by the rule of law or by democratic theory. Finally, he provides an analytical and jurisprudential history of important debates on statutory interpretation.

Statutory interpretation affects every area of law and is of growing scholarly interest given long-running debate about the coherence of statutory interpretation and the fact that the law of interpretation comprises 'frail guidelines'. This contributed work critically analyses the law in light of this debate. It examines areas where the law is coherent leading to confidence in the judiciary and the administration of the law. It also examines areas where the law is not coherent and is need of improvement.

This book is the first in the world to provide a cross-national, comparative exploration of omnibus legislation. It contributes to the global debate over omnibus legislation and offers comprehensive, thorough and multifaceted coverage that concerns the fields of legislation and legisprudence, comparative law, political science, public policy and economics. Beyond its relevance for these fields, the book will support practitioners in parliaments, governments and courts, thereby impacting the actual use of omnibus legislation. A new, major and controversial reform is enacted in the middle of the night. It is buried in a massive omnibus bill hundreds of pages in length, which is rammed through the legislative process at breakneck speed. The legislators receive the final version of the bill in the very last minute, and protest that they’ve had no opportunity to read it in detail and know what they’re voting upon. The majority party’s legislative leaders, however, are unimpressed, and the law is eventually passed on the basis of strict party discipline. Though it may sound far-fetched, this scenario is all too familiar in many legislatures around the world. The legislative practice of combining numerous unrelated measures in one long bill, which is often passed via a highly expedited process, has become a matter of intense debate and criticism in many countries.

Are legislatures able to form and act on intentions? The question matters because the interpretation of statutes is often thought to centre on the intention of the legislature and because the way in which the legislature acts is relevant to the authority it does or should enjoy. Many scholars argue that legislative intent is a fiction: the legislative assembly is a large, diverse group rather than a single person and it seems a mystery how the intentions of the individual legislators might somehow add up to a coherent group intention. This book argues that in enacting a statute the well-formed legislature forms and acts on a detailed intention, which is the legislative intent. The foundation of the argument is an analysis of how the members of purposive groups act together by way of common plans, sometimes forming complex group agents. The book extends this analysis to the legislature, considering what it is to legislate and how members of the assembly cooperate to legislate. The book argues that to legislate is to choose to change the law for some reason: the well-formed legislature has the capacity to consider what should be done and to act to that end. This argument is supported by reflection on the centrality of intention to the nature of language use. The book then explains in detail how members of the assembly form and act on joint intentions, which do not reduce to the intentions of each member, before outlining some implications of this account for the practice of statutory interpretation. Developing a robust account of the nature and importance of legislative intention, the book represents a significant contribution to the literature on deliberative democracy that will be of interest to all those thinking about legal interpretation and constitutional theory.

This is a collection of nine essays by senior judicial officers and leading legal academics on the principles of statutory interpretation. The target audience for the monograph is judicial officers, legal academics and law students.