The need to pass emergency legislation invariably and inevitably places special strains on the rule of law. In particular, difficult balances need to be struck between protecting public health and safety and limiting the intrusive effects of legislation so as to protect Convention human rights and other common law fundamental rights. Apart from substantive law, the processes of emergency legislation

Bar-Siman-TovIttai (ed). Comparative Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Omnibus Legislation, 2021. ISBN: 978-3-030-72748-2

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has posed myriad brain-wracking questions to decision-makers at all levels. Viet Nam managed to curb mortality and morbidity to praiseworthy levels in the past COVID-19 waves, however, has now had its back against the wall amidst the recent exponential infection cases and draining medical resources. For swiftly flattening the curve, the legislature authorized the Government

In the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, the proper understanding of the plain meaning rule (or literal rule) of statutory interpretation remains unclear. In its most basic iteration, the rule states that, where a statute is clear and unambiguous, the words must be given their natural and ordinary signification; there is no room for interpretation. That notwithstanding, to this day, even

AbstractThe focus of this article is the well-known statutory construction principle ‘a statute is always speaking’. This principle has a long history and has been applied in numerous cases. It has always been said that social changes are rapid, and the judges may need to give an ‘updated’ reading to a statute because legislative drafters just did not (and could not) foresee everything. However, as

Since completing the initial version of this article, the author has become aware of some recent language from the English Court of Appeal, suggesting that facts, affecting sentence within the applicable statutory range, have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

This is an unprecedented Bill to deal with an unprecedented crisis. Over the coming months, every aspect of the way that we do things in Britain will come under strain. As in wartime, we will have to change the way that we do things, and when it is all over things will not revert to business as usual. Some things will have changed forever, and the way that we do business here will assuredly fall into

Although Select committees have been used by the House of Commons for centuries for a range of different purposes involving the gathering of information and the publication of reports, the present system of a set of Committees each of which is tasked with monitoring the business of a different government department was established as recently as 1979.

AbstractSelf-driving cars, also referred to as connected and autonomous vehicles, are not only in vogue among technology and car enthusiasts (among others) but they have been broadly considered to form a new and disruptive means of transport. The benefits of self-driving cars are replete with stories of inclusivity, safety, environmental benefits, and social connectivity. However, the reality of the

AbstractOvercoming corruption is extremely important, as it is a danger to the state, society, and the individual. Of particular note is the experience of European Union member states that have implemented anti-corruption programs, achieved the necessary positive results, and laid the foundations for sustainable socio-political development, in particular in the context of guaranteeing national security

Parliamentary intention is a central aspect of statutory interpretation despite the many questions that exist concerning its normative role and desirability. In Lacey v. Attorney-General (Qld) and Zheng v. Cai, the High Court of Australia sought to diminish the role of objective parliamentary intention in statutory interpretation by alluding to a need for interpretive principles to be based on an understanding

A specific offence of domestic abuse was introduced in Northern Ireland in March 2021 under section 1 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021. This represents a crucial development in Northern Ireland’s response to domestic abuse. The new legislation has the effect of criminalizing coercive and controlling behaviour, therefore bringing Northern Ireland into line with

In R (Maughan) Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire,11 the Supreme Court resolved the important question of whether an inquest jury must be satisfied to the civil or criminal standard of proof before concluding that a person has committed suicide. In doing so, the Court had to assess the significance of a note to a form set out in a Schedule to a statutory instrument. The decision is interesting

The paper considers the purposes and evolution of Interpretation Acts, including the following points:

GriglioElena. Parliamentary Oversight of the Executives – Tools and Procedures in Europe. Hart Publishing, 2020, Volume 4 in the series Parliamentary Democracy in Europe. ISBN 978-1-5099-2568-1

KarpenUlrich and XanthakiHelen. Legislation in Europe – A Country by Country Guide, 2020. Hart Publishing. ISBN: 9781509924714

The editorial team of the Israeli National Legislation Database endeavored to locate all the proclamations, ordinances, and ‘Orders in Council’ published from the beginning of the British military regime in Palestine to the last ‘hidden laws’ published in the waning days of the British Mandate. These documents complete the historical information on Israel state laws and shed light on the initial establishment

The UK Government has published a draft Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (Repeal) Bill (‘the Draft Bill’),11 which is presently being given pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament.22

It was an excellent demonstration of the helpful symbiosis between government and Parliament in the service of the rule of law that in the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Public Health Information) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020,11 the Government responded quickly to certain defects identified and reported on by the Joint Committee for Statutory Instruments; so quickly

This note considers Re: A Company (Injunction to Restrain Presentation of Petition) [2020] EWHC 1406 (Ch) and Travelodge Ltd v Prime Aesthetics Ltd [2020] EWHC 1217 (Ch) in the context of earlier case law and looks at the circumstances in which the courts have shown a willingness to have regard to the likelihood of future legislation

Legislative erosion of basic human rights is not uncommon in Southeast Asia. The Malaysian government’s recent detention of 12 people under Security Offenses (Special Measures) Act 2012 for their alleged links to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has renewed extensive calls from civil society groups for its total repealment. It targets security offenses by creating the powers of arrest without warrant

Cases, where operations of legal entities entail unfair income through the malpractice of improving financial reports, are quite frequent. Such behaviour is unacceptable and deserves a stern response from the state, not only against persons involved in illegal activities but also against particular legal entities resorting to such behaviour. The purpose of this article is to analyse the elements of

In a time where many constitutions are as frequently amended as ordinary statutes, purposive constitutional interpretation is both commonplace and normatively justifiable. However, as recent Singaporean decisions demonstrate, a common purpose-related problem arising in statutory interpretation—the existence of conflicting purposes at different levels of abstraction—takes on an additional dimension

This article suggests that the power conferred on United Kingdom courts by section 3(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998 (UKHRA) is legitimate as a matter of the interpretation of that provision. It sets out a contextual approach to the interpretation of section 3(1) consistent with general principles of statutory interpretation. This differs from most analyses of this provision, whether comparative or

Abstract When India enacted the Companies Act, 2013, it became one of the few countries of the world to make Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a legal obligation for a large number of Indian companies. Using a comprehensive analysis of companies’ CSR disclosures and the interviews of relevant stakeholders, this article provides a bird’s-eye view on the major issues plaguing the current regulatory

I am most grateful to Master Treasurer for his kind invitation to speak this evening. In terms of law, I am only too well aware that I come from the factory, and I am facing an audience of extremely discriminating consumers.

This article critiques the Indian jurisprudence on section 30 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Under the present legal framework, a confession of a co-defendant in a joint criminal trial may be utilized by the Courts to corroborate other pieces of evidence, in order to determine the guilt of non-confessing defendants, also. However, this article argues that the ‘original meaning’ of section 30 makes

The topic of this article is a comparative analysis of parliamentary scrutiny of the quality of legislation contained in bills in the British system and in Continental Europe (with a special focus on Italy as case study). The main difference between the two systems is due to the establishment, especially in Continental Europe, of specific parliamentary tools, standards, or bodies to scrutinize the

AbstractIn an article published recently in the Statue Law Review,11 Prof. Shucheng Wang has examined the deferential approach to judicial review of the legislative process as adopted by the CFA,22 due to the Leung33 case. In this short response, I focus on two issues that are not mentioned in Prof. Wang’s article but that are crucial for understanding recent developments concerning judicial review

AbstractThe member of parliament has an important role in legislative authority, whether through the member’s main role at the national level as being considered a representative of the nation, or through the local role in the constituency which elected the member to parliament, in order to concretize a parliamentary duty that pushes the legislative authority forward to achieve its independence at

AbstractThis article utilizes the sexual offence reform in Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, and Western Australia as a case study to critically examine the perils and causes of duplicate offences. For perils, this article demonstrates that the failure to abolish a lesser offence (i.e. the procurement by false pretence offence) that was rendered redundant by a statutory expansion of the primary

This article seeks to engender scholarly and policy engagement with the neglected but important subject of subsidiary legislative power on different levels of English language capability for Australian visas. The question is, does the Migration Act 1958 (Commonwealth) permit regulations and legislative instruments on different levels of English language capability such as ‘competent English’? I argue

AbstractAmendments to the constitution and the jurisprudence surrounding the constituent power of Parliament have traditionally dominated the field of Indian constitutional law and constitutionalism. Most debates in this field have been restricted to issues like the source of the amending power of Parliament, express, and implied limits on the power to amend, and so on. In an attempt to revert to the

AbstractTreaties are agreements between States negotiated by government executives. They are primarily meant to govern the relationship between States, but may have implications for the economic, political, and fundamental rights of citizens. As treaties create binding legal obligations for States enforceable under international law, this article primarily argues that Parliamentary oversight of treaties

On 19 July 2018, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 (AEVA) received Royal Assent. As motor vehicles are becoming increasingly technologically based, with driving aids having taken over many of the more mundane (and possibly dangerous) aspects of driving from the driver, it is imperative that legislation keeps pace to determine the responsibilities of the parties. Motor insurance provides

Ordinances making power is one of the most controversial powers that has been vested with executive in India. This power is a substitute of legislative power of the legislature and is meant to be used only in situations comprising of exigencies. However, in practicality this power has often been misused by the executive, and is used to circumvent the legislative process. Due the misuse of this power

The title comes from a judgment I gave earlier this year. I was talking about the format of the statutes which emerged from the Tax Law Rewrite project. A key feature of the inclusion of statutory “signposts” which as I put it are there “to give clear pointers to each stage of the taxpayer’s journey to fiscal enlightenment”. I will come back to the Rewrite Project later in this speech. But it occurred

The Family Tribunal, the Tribunal, was established by section 77 of the Children Act with the mandate to, inter alia, ‘hear and determine matters relating to the care, custody, access or maintenance’. In the execution of its mandate, the Tribunal has applied the relevant sections of the Act which deal with the question of maintenance orders. In this article, the author read through 1020 files of the

Sir John Laws, the originator of the principle of constitutional statutes, suggests that the protection accorded to them has its roots in the protection from implied repeal given to the European Communities Act 1972 and to constitutional fundamentals. We argue that this suggestion is more convincing with regard to the latter than it is with the former. Further, we contend that founding constitutional

Can we provide legislative drafters with tools to simplify and clarify legislation, and make it more accessible? In the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and EU, through strategies such as the ‘Plain Language’ and ‘Good Law’ (PL/GL) initiatives, it is claimed that the answer is ‘yes’. Though many of the normative intentions underlying such initiatives are commendable, we argue that the pursuit of legislative

A focus on back-end constitutional actors remains the norm when we think of typical constitutional guardians. This piece challenges that perception, examining the uniquely situated UK constitution, with a focus on two significant front-end constitutional guardians: bill drafters within the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and senior clerks within the House of Commons. These two groups of actors provide

When New Zealand’s Parliament legislates to the effect that law on some particular matter may only be enacted using a mandated procedure, can the New Zealand judiciary enforce this provision against a future Parliament that fails to comply with it? This question regarding the status and effect of such “manner and form” requirements has been a perennial topic of public law discussions, primarily in

What methods, if at all, do Indian judges deploy in their law reading? In their abundant references to the term “jurisprudence”, the Indian judge gives neither precise meanings nor methods to ascertaining what is jurisprudence; the judges declare when purposively breaking new grounds, or, the state constitutively roots for a strict, even a conservative, reading of its will and legislative intention

AbstractIt is a common arrangement in different legislatures that individual members who are not ministers can bring forward bills (private members’ bills), but the drafting of a bill may involve certain technicalities that are usually outside their knowledge. How, then, do legislators prepare the text of private members’ bills? This article presents the way in which support is provided to those members

AbstractSection 10 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 stipulates that all agreements made with the ‘free consent’ of parties who are ‘competent’ to contract are enforceable as contracts. Section 11 declares that minors are not competent to contract. While the Act goes on to specifically set out the consequences of vitiated ‘consent’ in sections 19, 19A, and 20, it omits spelling out the consequences

AbstractThe purpose of Parliamentary scrutiny and debates in drafting a law is to avoid ambiguity, vagueness and definitional deficiencies. The penal provisions in the criminal laws should be clear on the acts that constitute the offence, and the intention of the accused person. A look at the drafting history of a law may aid one to ascertain the intention of Parliament. It is argued that there are

Statutory interpretation involves an interpreter determining the meaning of the text on the basis of various interpretive tools, all of which relate to the meaning of the words and their composition in light of the relevant context. Recently, with the increasing availability of scientific research tools such as corpus linguistics, advocates of such methods have stressed that statutory interpretation

AbstractThe relation between the threat to rule of law in India and its poorly drafted legislation may not be obvious at first. And yet clear, intelligible laws have been the premise for the success of rule of law. There is little research done in the field of plain language legislative drafting in India. This article analyses three important elements of plain language drafting in nine Indian statutes

AbstractIn this article, the application of the UK doctrine of fiscal nullity by the Supreme Court is considered in light of the twin decisions in the cases of UBS AG v. IRC11 and DB Group Services (UK) Ltd v. IRC.22 This article argues that fiscal nullity is not a separate doctrine of taxation but can be explained in the way the facts are proven in a tax case, in the way that legal transactions are

AbstractIndia has witnessed a major shift from the predominant seclusion in the Indian Lunacy Act, 1912, when there was no effectiveness in the treatment provided, to the Mental Health Act, 1987, when the focus was on the treatment and care of mentally ill patients along with some efforts to de-stigmatize and ensure human rights, to the recent Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, which primarily focuses on

The Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision in Prabagaran a/l Srivijayan v Public Prosecutor represents a substantial development in Singapore’s law on the doctrine of severability in constitutional review. An examination of Prabagaran reveals rich theoretical underpinnings relating to the nature of legislative intent. The case rightly locates the crux of the severability inquiry in secondary legislative

The environmental, social and economic benefits provided by greenspace are well-documented, and the closure of other types of Third Place has popularised them further. Yet, public sector funding cuts have necessitated local authorities prioritising other facilities that they are statutorily obliged to provide, resulting in a facilities-hierarchy which leaves financially-neglected greenspaces facing

Using the case of Buchanan v. Babco, the paper argues that multi-lingual settings are particularly suitable for disclosing cognitive and reasoning tasks that lawyers have to perform when interpreting a statute. It shows how approaches developed in computer science to model the way in which conflicting ontologies or worldviews are merged and inconsistencies between them repaired can also help our understanding

In Marley v. Rawlings, the UK Supreme Court had to decide who should inherit the estate of Alfred Rawlings—who had mistakenly signed his wife’s Will (instead of his own). In this article, I will examine the issues of interpretative methodology arising from this case. The Supreme Court resolved the dispute by exercising its statutory power to rectify the putative Will, but it failed to articulate clearly

The UK’s referendum decision of 23 June 2016, where voters elected to leave the European Union (EU), will fundamentally change aspects of national law. Much debate has focused on the constitutional implications of the decision and the procedure by which the government seeks to facilitate the exit. Further, issues of substance including the part played by immigration and the control of the UK’s borders

It is an honour for me to have been invited once again to deliver a lecture to the Statute Law Society. I can look back to the early years when the late Lord Renton laid down the foundations for the Society and to the work of the late Lord Rodger who took up the reins when Lord Renton had to pass on the work to someone else. I recall how much time and dedication Alan Rodger gave to the task which he

This article examines the legal methodology that courts have to employ when they construe domestic law in accordance with European Union directives. It demonstrates that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has set up autonomous ‘European methodological rules’. These rules apply together with national legal methods. The relationship between both regimes can be described with the concepts

Interpretation of legislation implementing acutely political government policies presents challenges for courts in a variety of ways. Those challenges are heightened when the measure is one originating from the devolved legislatures of the UK nations where courts have the power to declare that such acts are ‘not law’ where they exceed the defined legislative competence of the devolved legislature,

In the United Kingdom, motor vehicle insurance is governed by national and EU law. In respect of the EU requirement that member states establish a guarantee fund from which the victims of negligent uninsured or untraced drivers may obtain compensation, the United Kingdom entered into a series of agreements with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). In 2015, the MIB established the Uninsured Drivers’ Agreement

Lord Steyn once stated that the victimization of those who complain of discrimination under the equality legislation should be treated as seriously as the discrimination itself. Empirical research, demonstrating the fear of reprisals, supports this. If, say, employees can be denied promotions, grievance processes, transfers, or references because of a complaint, their careers could be frozen for years