Post by CLARE MARIE ?! on Apr 1, 2010 19:40:33 GMT -5
When parliament pass Acts of Parliament, they create law which people will have to follow. If these laws are broken thent heywill end up in court - the Judges then look at the Act which was broken and understand what Parliament were trying to do with it, and what they were trying to make happen. The judge will then use this understanding to apply that law to the case so they can provide a suitable outcome to the case.
REASONS AN ACT MAY BE UNCLEAR;
A BROAD TERM: There may be words designed to cover several possibilities, and a word with a wide meaning can lead to problems as to what they exactly cover.
AMBIGUITY: This is where a word has two or more meanings; it may not be clear which meaning should be used.
A DRAFTING ERROR: The Parliamentary Council who drafted the original Bill may have made an error which has not been noticed by Parliament. This is particulary likely to occur where the Bill is amended several times while going through Parliament.
NEW DEVELOPEMENTS: New technology may mean that an old Act of Parliament does not apprently cover present day situations.
CHANGES IN THE USE OF LANGUAGE: The meaning of words may change over the years.