ABSTRACT
Even when reading an ordinary statement free from the complexities of an Act of Parliament it may be difficult to find the meaning of particular words. This difficulty may arise because the proper meaning of a word is different to the meaning the ordinary person in the street expects it to have or, more frequently, because the word has many possible meanings.1 When the word the meaning of which has to be found is in an Act of Parliament the difficulty of finding that meaning may be increased by the complexities of the Act itself and by the possibility that Parliament has used the same word in different senses in the same Act. The rules of statutory interpretation evolved by the courts attempt to assist the reader to find a way through these difficulties and so to find the meaning of the words.
