Religious Studies 1023E Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Precedent, Traction Engine, Obiter Dictum

• School: Western University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: Religious Studies 1023E
• Professor: Jonathan Geen

Document Summary

The law, through various mechanisms, sets down various rues. But those rules, or their application to a future matter, are not always clear: eg. What exactly does a term in a statute mean: eg. What relevance does a prior court decision have to a future dispute. There are rules as to how those rules should be interpreted. Courts must decide if facts of particular case fit w/in general language. This involves: determining the meaning of statutory terms, determining the applicability of statutory terms. No set formula for determining legislative meaning (cid:494)rules(cid:495) of statutory interpretation are better understood as guidelines (cid:498)statutory interpretation is probably best described as a process that requires the exercise and the purpose of the statute(cid:499) (ta, s. 1 (cid:523)1(cid:524): (cid:498)vehicle(cid:499) includes a motor vehicle, trailer, traction engine, farm tractor, road- including muscular power, but does not include a motorized snow vehicle or a street car(cid:499)