Exam 7: How Precedent Operates: Ratio Decidendi and Obiter Dictum

Read the Abortion Act extract below as originally enacted and then the amendment made by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.

Offences Against the Person Act 1861 58 Every woman, being with child, who, with intent to procure her own miscarriage, shall administer to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, and whosoever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman, whether or not she be with child, shall unlawfully administer to her or cause to be taken by her any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, shall be guilty of felony… Which of the following statements constitute the basic offence as set out by section 58?

While legislation is intended to be understandable by the layperson, it is drafted primarily for lawyers.

Complete the following (select all that apply): the case of Wood v Smith (see 7.11 and 8.3.1) demonstrates that…

If a word has a specific meaning defined by a body of case law, this meaning will not be presumed to be the same in a statute.

Read the following sections. Abortion Act 1967 5 (1) Nothing in this Act shall affect the provisions of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 (protecting the life of the viable foetus). Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 1 (2) For the purposes of this Act, evidence that a woman had at any material time been pregnant for a period of twenty-eight weeks or more shall be prima facie proof that she was at that time pregnant of a child capable of being born alive. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 Abortion 37 (4) For section 5(1) of that Act (the Abortion Act 1967) there is substituted - '(1 No offence under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 shall be committed by a registered medical practitioner who terminates a pregnancy in accordance with the provisions of this Act.' What is the effect of s 37(4) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 on the Abortion Act?

Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 3 Exposing vehicles for sale on a road 1 A person is guilty of an offence if at any time - (a he leaves two or more motor vehicles parked within 500 metres of each other on a road or roads where they are exposed or advertised for sale, or b he causes two or more motor vehicles to be so left. 2 A person is not to be convicted of an offence under subsection (1) if he proves to the satisfaction of the court that he was not acting for the purposes of a business of selling motor vehicles 3 … 4 In this section - 'motor vehicle' has the same meaning as in the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 (c.3); 'road' has the same meaning as in the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (c.27). Now assess whether the following commentary is correct (true) or incorrect (false). Commentary: Section 3(1) sets up the offence, which has two disjunctive elements - (a) or (b). Thus, there are two different ways of committing the offence. Questions should be asked as to the meaning of the words 'motor vehicle', 'road', 'parked', 'exposed or advertised for sale', and the phrase 'causing to be left'. Section 3(2) provides a defence to the offence under section 3 (1). Here, one would need to know the meaning of the phrase 'acting for the purposes of a business of selling motor vehicles'. The burden of proof appears to rest on the defendant because he must 'prove to the satisfaction of the court'. Section 3(4) is the definition section, providing definitions of 'motor vehicle' and 'road'. These definitions have to be read into subsections (1) and (2). The reader will have to cross-reference to other Acts to understand these definitions.

There is no single set method of drafting a statute: different methods of drafting may be used to convey the same message.

Which of the following are aims of the Parliamentary Counsel in drafting statutes (select all that apply)?