Statements against penal interest are outside the common law exception of statements against interest. The oral confession of a deceased person was considered.
The court considered principles of statutory interpretation: ‘Acts should be construed according to the intent of Parliament. If the words are clear no more can be done than to use their natural meaning. The words alone do declare the intention of the lawgiver.’ and ‘If the words of the statute are in themselves precise and unambiguous, then no more can be necessary than to expound those words in their natural and ordinary sense. The words themselves alone do, in such case, best declare the intention of the lawgiver’.
Tindal CJ
(1844) 11 Cl and Fin 85, 8 ER 1034, [1844] EngR 822, (1844) 11 Cl and Fin 85, (1844) 8 ER 1034
Commonlii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Onesearch Direct Holdings Ltd (T/A Onesearch Direct) v City of York Council Admn 19-Mar-2010
onesearch_yorkAdmn2010
The court considered the conditions under which the respondent authority replied to all enquiries as to properties within its area. The replies were given by a standardised all inclusive information sheet derived from a central database. The . .
Cited – Vacher and Sons Ltd v London Society of Compositors HL 18-Nov-1912
Lord Moulton said that the danger of departing from the ordinary meaning of unambiguous provisions is that ‘it may degrade into mere judicial criticism of the propriety of the acts of the Legislature’.
Lord Haldane LC after stating that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 30 July 2021; Ref: scu.218846
