Modern Interpretation in Practice

Abstract

As we saw in Chapter 19, the technique which we labelled simple literalism is seriously defective and no longer characterizes the judicial approach to statutory interpretation. As we also saw, there is a greatly increased perception of the significance of the context within which words are used, and more particularly, of the purpose underlying the enactment. The contemporary approach is, therefore, sometimes called either contextualism, or, more usually, purposivism, but the alternative label of enlightened literalism is also useful, because it recognizes the evolutionary development of the modern approach, while at the same time clearly differentiating it from its predecessor.