Handbook : Unit informationEdith Cowan University

School: Business and Law

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

• Unit Title

  Statutory Interpretation

• Unit Code

  LAW4625

• Year

  2017

• Enrolment Period

  2

• Version

  3

• Credit Points

  15

• Full Year Unit

  N

• Mode of Delivery

  On Campus
  Online

• Unit Coordinator

  Ms Fiona Elizabeth LOW

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Description

This unit explores the methods by which objective meaning for words and phrases included in legislation can be distilled. Students draw from and build upon their already advanced foundational legal knowledge and familiarity with legal reasoning by undertaking practical exercises applying interpretive strategies both in unfamiliar doctrinal areas and areas of substantive law already studied.
The theoretical underpinning to this mostly practically focused unit, the relationship between statutory law and the common law system (including equity), is fundamental. The unit is premised upon the notion that the law in Australia is holistic, that the relationship between the common law and statutory law is symbiotic and that movement along the common law/statutory law continuum is dynamic.
The unit has been devised to equip students to identify and implement appropriate interpretive strategies in a variety of contexts encountered in professional practice.

Non Standard Timetable Requirements

This unit will be offered in on campus mode in intensive mode during the winter term.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must pass 3 units from LAW2314, LAW2350, LAW3102

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Distil and apply legislative provisions (including, where required, a preferred interpretation) using: intrinsic guides; the Acts Interpretation Act 1901(Cth) and the Interpretation Act 1984(WA); legislative aids including context and purpose; and principles and presumptions employed by the courts.
2. Articulate, critically analyse and evaluate competing theories of statutory interpretation including current debates regarding the preferred methodologies for interpretation.

Unit Content

1. Detailed examination and consideration of sample Commonwealth & WA legislation (to be advised).
2. Distillation of meaning - methods and guidance including special issues in interpretation.
3. Legislative mechanisms & processes (including commencement and duration) and the anatomy of a statute (framework).
4. Theories of statutory interpretation including the inter-relationship between the common law and statute law.

Additional Learning Experience Information

This unit will be offered in on campus mode in intensive mode during the winter term. Students will participate in a blend of lectures, tutorials and seminars over a 6-day period. The lectures direct students to relevant case law and students are encouraged to consider the rules of statutory interpretation critically. Industry relevant guest speakers may also deliver lecture content. Tutorials and seminars provide students the opportunity to discuss critical aspects of the content in greater detail and in doing so, further develop their ability to work in teams, generate ideas, solve statutory interpretation problems within a practical context and prepare interpretive advices, demonstrating professionally appropriate language skills.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

Core Reading(s)

• Herzfeld, P., & Price, T. (2013). Statutory interpretation principles. Pyrmont NSW: Law Book Co.

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