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CS Executive · Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws · Interpretation of Statutes

A section of an Act says 'vehicles' are not permitted in a public garden. A municipal officer seeks to apply it to a child's toy tricycle by reading the section in light of the evil the Act sought to remedy, namely noise and danger from motor traffic. Which rule of interpretation does the court apply when it asks what mischief the Act was designed to cure?

The court applies the mischief rule, also called the rule in Heydon's case. It asks what defect or mischief the earlier law left unremedied and what remedy the legislature intended, then reads the provision to suppress that mischief and advance the remedy.

  1. ALiteral rule
  2. BGolden rule
  3. CMischief rule (rule in Heydon's case)Correct
  4. DRule of ejusdem generis

Explanation

The mischief rule examines the defect in the earlier law, the remedy Parliament provided, and then construes the provision so as to suppress the mischief and advance the remedy. The literal rule would stop at the word 'vehicles'. Ejusdem generis deals with general words following specific ones, which is not the case here.

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