ABSTRACT
Megarry has a chapter in Miscellany-at-Law. The title of the chapter is, Of Peculiar Language59. The title is taken from Lyons v Tucker60 where Grove J., stated that,
the language of statutes is peculiar … and not always that which a rigid grammarian would use; we must do what we can to construe them … This criticism has stuck. Many others have followed. The Law Reports are
replete with the sayings of the judges who, ‘carp at the language of the legislator and say the draftsman might have put it differently.’ Lord Denning has also come to the aid of Parliamentary Counsel: ‘the English language is not an instrument of mathematical precision … this is where the draftsmen of Acts of Parliament have been unfairly criticized.’
