Legislation Act 2019

Interpretation and application of legislation - General principles of interpretation

10: How to ascertain meaning of legislation

You could also call this:

"Understanding what a law means by looking at its words and purpose"

When you want to understand what a law means, you look at the words used in the law. You also think about why the law was made and the situation it applies to. This applies even if the law does not say why it was made. The words used in the law include things like introductions, tables of contents, headings, pictures, and explanations that help you understand the law, as well as how the law is organised and laid out, which can be found by following the link to the legislation website.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7298193.


Previous

9: Application of this Part, or

"When this part of the law applies to other New Zealand laws, unless they say it doesn't."


Next

11: Legislation applies to circumstances as they arise, or

"The law applies to what's happening now, not what happened before."

Part 2Interpretation and application of legislation
General principles of interpretation

10How to ascertain meaning of legislation

  1. The meaning of legislation must be ascertained from its text and in the light of its purpose and its context.

  2. Subsection (1) applies whether or not the legislation’s purpose is stated in the legislation.

  3. The text of legislation includes the indications provided in the legislation.

  4. Examples of those indications are preambles, a table of contents, headings, diagrams, graphics, examples and explanatory material, and the organisation and format of the legislation.

Compare
  • 1999 No 85 s 5