Advanced Statutory Interpretation

There has been a massive increase in the volume of statute law in Australian jurisdictions over the past century, with the result that statutes now play an important role in most areas of law and in the resolution of most appellate court cases. Yet there is widespread disagreement about the approach that should be taken to interpreting statutes. For example, should that approach focus on the text of the statute, the intentions of the legislature or the statutory purpose? Where textual considerations conflict with the statutory purpose, which should prevail? It is their differing answers to these questions that distinguish the main theories of statutory interpretation: textualism, intentionalism and purposivism.