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Some words have both a popular and a technical or specialised meaning. For example, the word 'offer' has both a general and a more specialised legal meaning. Judges interpret such words in their context and according to the intent of the legislature. The following case study, based on Fisher v Bell [1961] 1 QB 394, illustrates the point.
Case study. A knife with an automatically opening blade was displayed in a shop with a label reading 'Ejector Knife $4'. Legislation provided that: 'Any person who offers for sale or hire, any knife which has a blade which opens automatically shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.' The shopowner was charged with contravening this Act but the court found him 'not guilty'. The court said that the shopowner did not 'offer the knife for sale' within the meaning of the Act.
Consider the alternatives below. Which type of meaning does the court appear to have relied on when interpreting the words 'offer for sale' ?
(a) The popular, ordinary or dictionary meaning of the words
(b) The current, as opposed to the historical, meaning of the words
(c) The specialised 'legal' meaning of the words
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