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Legislation has been enacted in all the Australian jurisdictions to further clarify how interpretation questions should be approached by the courts. One of the most important rules is that, when deciding what words or phrases in legislation mean, a court must take account of the overall purpose or underlying objective that the legislation was intended to achieve. Judges must choose a meaning that is consistent with that overall purpose or objective.
Judges therefore begin interpreting an Act by considering the ordinary and special meaning of words and phrases in the Act. But, in addition, judges must always interpret those words and phrases in a way that is consistent with the overall purpose or underlying object of the Act. In short, the purely grammatical meaning of a provision gives way to an interpretation which promotes the purpose of the Act.
Below are two examples of relevant sections.
Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) section 15AA
Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (Vic) section 35
Click here to see a list of links to all the Interpretation Acts.
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