The Court of Appeal is to consider arguments from a claimant and respondent. There are certain ambiguities in the Act of Parliament involved. The Court decides they must resort to seeking clarification from an extrinsic aid.
Which of the following is an extrinsic aid?
The Court of Appeal is to consider arguments from a claimant and respondent. There are certain ambiguities in the Act of Parliament involved. The Court decides they must resort to seeking clarification from an extrinsic aid.
Which of the following is an extrinsic aid?
Hansard
(B) is correct, as it is the only external (extrinsic) aid. As the name implies, an extrinsic aid to interpretation is something that is outside the law itself. The Hansard is the official record of debates that took place when the Act was considered in Parliament. Whilst it is not part of the Act (and so is extrinsic), it gives insight into what the politicians in Parliament were thinking when they passed the Act. None of the other choices is an extrinsic aid.
The definition section of an Act (A), as the name implies, includes definitions of terms used in the Act. This is an intrinsic aid.
(C), The Preamble, is a set block of text put into every Act that indicates it was approved by the Monarch and properly passed by Parliament. It is not much of an aid at all, but, in any case, it is intrinsic to the Act.
(D), marginal notes, are short notations which may appear above or alongside of each section of an Act and which give insight into what the provision is about. By definition, a marginal note is an internal aid.
An Act's long (E) is part of the Act and so is intrinsic. The long title is a somewhat detailed description of the purpose of the Act.