Statutory interpretation quiz/Quiz zur Gesetzesauslegung

Here’s a bizarre item on Quizilla. I’m afraid I can’t remember where I found it. I particularly liked the pepperoni pizza question:

You are the Rule of Lenity! You interpret

ambiguities in penal statutes in favor of the

accused. You’re a laid-back kind of rule and

concerned with not being too quick to judge.

You’re soft on crime.

Which Canon of Statutory Construction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Btw, I wasn’t at all laid back and lenient about the beer, just about the pizza and the attractive member of the opposite sex.

And here’s what I learnt in the distant past about the interpretation of statutes:
the literal rule (take the obvious meaning if it’s reasonably clear), the golden rule (give words their ordinary meaning unless it would be absurd), the mischief rule (what mischief was the Act designed to cure? interpret in conformity with that aim), the eiusdem generis rule (a list of specific items is to be regarded as exhaustive unless followed by general words).

Alpmann Brockhaus lists some German rules, but I won’t go into those!
grammatische Auslegung, systematische A., historische A., genetische A., teleologische A., erweiternde A., verfassungskonforme A., richtlinienkonforme A. And in the case of wills: erläuternde A., ergänzende A., wohlwollende A.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.