Modern Statutory Interpretation (Legislative Process and Principles of Statutory Interpretation)

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Description
Statutory interpretation dates back to the 16th century or even earlier. Society has changed since then. The focus of modern statutory law is more on public law than private law. The traditional tools and techniques of statutory interpretation have also changed. Judges look at the text, context and purpose of a statute. The text, context and purpose determine the meaning and effect of a statute. The term 'context' is very wide. It could mean internal context of a statute or external context of a statute for e.g. law commission reports etc. Therefore, every event related to the making of law—formulation of policy, its translation into legal text, the preparation of a bill, referral to committee and passing of bill—all become relevant in interpreting a statutory provision.
The idea for a book on legislative process and the principles of statutory interpretation in one volume was first experimented in the book "The Interpretation of Taxing Statute" by the author in 2008. Later on, the author contributed an appendix titled "Legislation and Interpretation in India" in Craies on Legislation edited by Daniel Greenberg. In the preface to the 10th Edition of 2012 Daniel Greenberg states as under:
"Finally, I am delighted that the issue of the large number of readers who have to apply a basic common law approach to legislation within different legislative contexts around the world has begun to be addressed, and I hope it is only a beginning, by the inclusion of an Appendix designed to offer thoughts on the material throughout the work from the perspective of a lawyer operating in India, very kindly written by Dr. K.N. Chaturvedi, a former Secretary to the Government of India in the Law Ministry."
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Pre-Independence Acts - Laws in Force
Chapter 2. Acts of Parliment
Chapter 3. Judicial Review of Legislation
Chapter 4. Legislative Process - Principle Legislation
Chapter 5. Legislative Process - Delegated Legislation
Chapter 6. Structure of an Act
Chapter 7. Preliminary Chapter
Chapter 8. Basic and Subsidiary Rules of Statutory Interpretation
Chapter 9. Presumptions
Chapter 10. Recognized Canons of Construction
Chapter 11. Maxims of Statutory Interpretation
Chapter 12. Internal Aids and Internal Sources to Statutory Interpretation
Chapter 13. External Aids to Interpretation
Chapter 14. Delegated Legislation
Chapter 15. Purposive Interpretation
Chapter 16. Constitutional Interpretation
Chapter 17. The General Clauses Act 1897
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Author Details
N.K. Chaturvedi