How to read statutes

1. READING STATUTES
Topic 3
Introduction to Legal Skills
LAF2133
by
Br. Mahyuddin Daud
Department of Laws
CFS IIUM

2. WHAT IS A STATUTE?
 Statute is a written form of rules and regulation
 Primary source of law
 Creature of the Parliament.
 It is an Act of Parliament

3. HOW STATUTE IS MADE?
PARLIAMENTARY STAGES OF A GOVERNMENT BILL
– 1ST READING
 A Bill may originate in any two Houses; except a
Money Bill, which has to originate from the House
of Representatives.
 The first stage known as the First Reading, is
merely a formality in which a minister in the House
of Representatives will stand up and table the Bill.

4. 2ND READING
 This is followed by the Second Reading and the
most important one, which may take place on the
same day, (with the exception of certain bills) where
the policy of the bill is presented by the Minister.
 If the bill is supported by another member of the
House of Representatives, it is then discussed and
debated in detail.

5. COMMITTEE STAGE
 At the Committee level, which comes after the
Second Reading, members may reject or amend
the bill. If the House finds the Bill favourable,
members take a vote by balloting and the Bill then
moves on to the Third Reading.

6. 3RD READING
 In the Third Reading, the particulars of the Bill will
be debated and only errors in spelling and syntax
may be amended. From here, the bill moves on to
the Senate or will be sent to the House of
Representative if the Bill originates from the senate.

7.  In the Senate, the Bill goes through the same
procedure and if it is approved, the Bill will be
presented to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, who will
then seal it with the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal.
 Only after being gazetted in the government
Gazette, the bill will then become a Law.

8. ISLAMIC POINT OF VIEW
 Statutory reference as primary source of law
applies the same concept as reference to the
Qur’an
 Al-Quran is treated in Islam as the ‘statute’ or
highest law of Allah to His creations
 Wordings in Al-Quran are written in very unique
style, easy to be understood and appreciated by
mankind
 Considered as huda (revelation) to mankind

9. STRUCTURE OF A STATUTE
 In a legislative format, the language of the law will
usually found to be:
 In an unusual grammatical form
 Potentially confusing
 Law students need to practice progressively to develop
the following skills in order to overcome statutory
interpretation difficulties:
 Sophisticated comprehension skills
 Vocabulary skills
 Grammar skills
 Excellent reading and writing skills etc

10. GENERAL LAYOUT OF A STATUTE
 There is a standard method of laying out statutes
which, when recognised and understood, becomes
a great help for analysis or evaluation.

11. PARTS
 Most statutes will be divided into parts for ease of
reference.
 Each part will deal with different aspects of the
overall collection of rules and their meanings.
 Each part contains sections which give more details
in each area.

13.  Where appropriate, sections will deal with
definitions. Sections can be further divided into sub-
sections.

15.  Sub-sections are capable of further division, with
the use of roman numerals, into paragraphs.
 Paragraphs can be further divided with alphabetical
ordering into sub-paragraphs.
 At the end of the statute, there will often be
schedules and these are numerically divided as
well.

16.  These deal further with matters raised in the
various parts.
 Schedules can only relate to previous sections in
the Act. They cannot create anything new without
an anchoring in the main body of the statute.
 All statutes also contain marginal notes, headings
and sub-headings. These organising devices,
however, are said not to form part of the law.

17.  Correct understanding of the relationship between
parts, sections, sub-sections, paragraphs, sub-
paragraphs, marginal notes, headings and
schedules enables the general layout of the Act to
be ascertained.
 Assistance is also obtained from the ‘long title’ of
the Act, which looks more like a long sentence
about what the statute is about.

18. INTERPRETATION: INTERNAL AIDS
SHORT TITLE
 Short title is usually found to be put as the first
section of the Act.
 It describes, inter alia, on how the statute should be
called or termed.
 E.g.: See Section 1 of Contracts Act 1950
 The High Court in PP v. Chief Executive Secretary
MCA [1958] 24 MLJ 151 held that the short title is
part of the legislation and can be used as an aid in
interpretation.

20. LONG TITLE & PREAMBLE
 The long title is found at the beginning and it will
describe the purposes of the legislation
 The preamble immediately follows the long title
(when there is one, which is rare nowadays)

21. SCHEDULE
 A schedule is an extension of the section which
introduces it.
 Material is put into a schedule because it is too
lengthy or detailed to be accommodated in a
section, or because it forms a separate document
(such as a treaty).
 In cases where conflict arise between the body of
the Act and the schedule, the schedule must give
way
 In other words, a schedule may be used to construe
an Act only if not inconsistent with it.

23. MARGINAL NOTES OR SIDE NOTES
 Marginal notes are short explanations that
appear in the margin of a bill. They are not part
of the bill, and are included only as readers’
aids or for information purposes
 The courts in Malaysia, unlike in England, take the
view that marginal notes are part and parcel of a
statute and may be used as an aid to interpretation
 This view has been affirmed by Edgar Joseph Jr.
F.C.J. and Gopal Sri Ram J.C.A when they referred
to the marginal note of a certain Act in Lim Phin
Khian v. Kho Su Ming

24. ILLUSTRATIONS
 Occasionally, a statute gives examples to illustrate
the working of its provisions
 The Privy Council in Mohamed Syedol Ariffin v
Yeoh Ooi Gark [1916] 1 MC 165 stated that it is the
duty of a court to accept, if that can be done,
illustrations appended to sections as relevant in the
interpretation in the text, and that it would require a
very special case to justify their rejection on the
ground of their assumed inconsistency to the
sections themselves.

26. STATUTORY INTERPRETATION:
EXTERNAL AID
 External aids to interpretation are those found
outside the actual Act. The following external aids
have been regarded as acceptable:
 Dictionaries
 Interpretation statute (Interpretation Act)
 Previous or subsequent statutes on the same subject
matter
 Judicial decisions interpreting statutes in pari materia
 Hansard