Legislating statutory interpretation

Chris Hunt, Lorne Neudorf, Micah Rankin

"Legislating Statutory Interpretation: Perspectives from the Common Law World is a collection of essays focusing on the relationship between interpretation acts and statutory interpretation. The activity of interpreting statutes is often thought to be quintessentially judicial and is largely governed by common law rules and principles of statutory interpretation. Interestingly, however, in every province in Canada (and in many other jurisdictions), parliaments and legislatures have enacted statutes that purport to dictate to courts how they should interpret legislation. For instance, section 8 of the British Columbia Interpretation Act states that 'Every enactment must be construed as being remedial, and must be given such fair, large and liberal construction and interpretation as best ensures the attainment of its objects.' What is the significance of these attempts by legislatures...