Bachelor of Laws: Statutory Interpretation

A comprehensive guide to legal research created by the VU Law Library
The process by which meaning and content are given, by the courts, to statutes and the words and phrases contained in them. This process is aided by various rules and presumptions, such as the literal, mischief and purpose rules, and recourse to extrinsic materials relating to the particular statute in question.
(Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary, 2016)
Statutory Interpretation
Dictionaries  
Legal Maxims used in Statutory Interpretation
Traditional Common Law Approaches to Statutory Interpretation
Modern Approach to Statutory Interpretation
Extrinsic Materials
Presumptions
Obligations and Discretions
Statutory Interpretation Web Sites

Ask a law librarian any questions that you have about legal research or AGLC4 referencing.

Zoom meetings are available Monday - Friday between 8am and 4pm, by appointment. Email the law librarians to book an appointment. Please state your preferred time/day.

murray.greenway@vu.edu.au

debra.hutchinson@vu.edu.au

 Send an email now

A law librarian will reply with a confirmation of your appointment and  a link to the Zoom meeting.

eBooks

Finding Cases that Consider a Section of an Act

To find judicial consideration of a particular provision of legislation:

  1. Access Lexis+ via the A-Z Databases list.
  2. Select Legislation (from the menu under the search box)
  3. Then LawNowPlus Legislation Citator
  4. Search for the legislation by title and provision
  5. From the results click on the title to view the legislation
  6. Select Cases tab to view a list of cases
  7. Select 'Show Lexis Leading Cases' to view the results in relevance order

Statutory Interpretation Web Sites