The Principle of Legality and the Clear Statement Principle

Abstract

The protection which common law affords to preservation of fundamental rights and liberties is, to a large extent, secreted within law of statutory interpretation. It is a longstanding principle of statutory interpretation that, in absence of a clear statement to contrary, Parliament is presumed not to intend to abrogate such rights and liberties. This is a manifestation of a unifying principle, which has conveniently been called the principle of legality. This article explores how principle of legality informs process of statutory interpretation and examines level of linguistic clarity that is required from Parliament to successfully express an intention that principle of legality be set aside.

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