Virtually every aspect of modern life is regulated by statutes. Knowing how to read and apply statutes and to construct sound arguments regarding statutory interpretation is, therefore, an essential legal skill - one that is both an art and a science.
This new edition of the leading work on statutory interpretation in Canada offers a complete and up-to-date account of this subject, as established by the Supreme Court of Canada and other appellate courts. The fifth edition includes not only clear explanations of the traditional rules of interpretation, but also explores the principles underlying the rules and offers numerous illustrations of their application.
Professor Sullivan begins with an analysis of Driedger's modern principle, which has been adopted by the Supreme Court of Canada as its preferred approach to statutory interpretation, and looks at the relation between that principle and other approaches to interpretation such as the plain meaning rule.