Demise of Legislation

WHAT IS THE INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES ABOUT?

- The subject is concerned with the principles, rules, methods and techniques which are employed to understand statutes and statutory law.

- While from the above definition one may get the impression that the Interpretation of Statutes is mainly concerned with procedure Devenish submits that :-

“The interpretation of statutes is not merely a technical procedure but also involves a

psychological and imaginative procedure using value judgements”

- Other authors (like Von Savigny) have described the Interpretation of Statutes as :

“the foundation of legal science”

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF STATUTE LAW?

- Statute law is one of the main sources of South African law. The other sources are :-

a) The Constitution

b) Case law

c) Customary law etc

- In comparing statute law to case law and customary law, there are obvious advantages that emerge:-

1. Due to the fact that statutes are written, they are readily accessible and knowable.

2. Statute law is also flexible, meaning that it can be easily altered and adapted to changing circumstances.

by Amendments being made to existing law.

3. Considering that statutes are written and remain in this written form until they are repealed, they contribute towards enhancing legal certainty.

Repeal = revoke (The terms are synonymous)

= means to officially withdraw a law

CAN WE CATEGORISE LEGISLATION?

South African Statutes can generally be categorized as follows:-

1. From a historical point of view.

2. According to their origin in a formal sense.

3. According to their origin in a material sense.

CATEGORIES OF LEGISLATION

1. From a Historical point of view

When we speak of the historical point of view, we refer to the period during which the particular legislation originated. Here there are basically 3 sub-categories:-...