Explain and comment upon the rules that the courts may use in order to interpret a statute.

... When the courts are called upon to interpret a statute they use a variety of rules to try and ascertain 'the intention of Parliament' Explain and comment upon the rules that the courts may use in order to interpret a statute. It is assumed that, under the unwritten constitution that the United Kingdom is governed by, judges interpret the law, rather than write it (Read, 1998). Because English law is based on precedent the method used to decide the interpretation of the law concerned becomes important. Judges presiding over relevant cases are faced with three routes to achieve their aims. i) The Literal rule ii) The Golden rule iii) The Mischief rule. The literal rule, as suggested is concerned with looking at the relevant statute and applying that statute to the letter. Judges taking this approach are doing this from the perspective of a judiciary not willing to challenge the primacy of the legislature to

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