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How does a court find out the overall purpose or underlying objective of legislation? Some evidence of what was intended can be found in the Act itself (and is therefore referred to as 'intrinsic' evidence of intention). The things to look for are listed below.
- Objects sections and preambles. Recent Acts normally contain an 'objects section' setting out their purpose. Older Acts are more likely to contain a 'preamble' explaining the circumstances in which it was passed and outlining its general aims.
- Long titles. Appearing at the beginning of older Acts, the long title usually sheds light on the Act's objectives. However the short title of an Act is not used for the purposes of interpretation.
- Headings of Parts and Divisions. These are considered to be part of the Act and can be taken into account for the purposes of interpretation. Marginal notes or footnotes are not taken into account for interpretation purposes. Headings to individual sections are not uniformly recognised as part of an Act but they are so regarded in NSW, SA, Tas and WA.
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