JOURNAL OF AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH

An Examination of The Role of Judges in Interpretation of Statute to Discover the Intention of The Legislature: Myth or Reality.

Joel Drisu Umaru
June 22, 2024

Abstract

The legislature makes the law but it is the role of judges to interpret the words of legislature. The judges in the course of interpreting the law have a measure of discretion and creative power in the manner in which they interpret law. Legislature can include words that have more than one meaning or words whose meaning changes depending on its context. It can lead to a lack of clarity or precision and the language or words used can create obscurity, ambiguity, meaningless and failing to achieve the purpose which it is aimed simply through being badly drafted. As a result, judges need to provide legislation with effective meaning through interpretation which can be restrictive, literal, permissive and purposive. Language is indeterminate and innately vulnerable to the unsettling play of deconstructive forces. It is argued that words have no essential meaning, instead, words are constantly shifting variable with capacity to impede communication and derail the interpretive processes. This raises the obvious question whether judges their duty of interpretation of statute to discover the intention of the legislature, is a myth or realty

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JOURNAL OF AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH

Published in JOURNAL OF AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH

ISSN: 9783-7967

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