6.2.2 Statute Law
Statute Law is a more stable type of a law. It is developed by Parliament to right a wrong, or to give specific guidance as to how something should be done. These laws are given specific names, and will refer to specific activities or topics. As a Statute, it does not allow the same level of interpretation as common law does, and instead gives a solid framework of what must be done to comply.
There are three ways that Statute Law may be applied.
Letter of the law.
Under this application the law is interpreted directly as it is written, with no hidden meaning or emphasis. If this process is adopted the interpretation of the law may change over time because the meaning of certain words or phrases changes over time.
Spirit of the law
To apply the legislation in this way is a matter of interpreting what the lawmakers really intended when they made the law. A section titled Objectives, in the introduction to the legislation, provides a guide as to what the aim of the law really is.
Essence
To use the essence of the legislation is to consider how the law is being applied. Under this application, it could be said that we need to consider what wrong is being righted by the application of the law. In some instances this is called the Golden Rule.
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