The Plain meaning rule, also known as the literal rule, is one of three rules of statutory construction traditionally applied by English courts. The other two are the “mischief rule” and the “golden rule.”
The plain meaning rule dictates that statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute, unless a statute explicitly defines some of its terms otherwise. In other words, the law is to be read word for word and should not divert from its ordinary meaning.
The plain meaning rule is the mechanism that underlines textualism and, to a certain extent, originalism.
Read more about Plain Meaning Rule: Meaning, Reasons Favored, Criticism, British History, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words plain, meaning and/or rule:
“I sat upon the shore
Fishing, with the arid plain behind me
Shall I at least set my lands in order?”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“He would declare and could himself believe
That the birds there in all the garden round
From having heard the daylong voice of Eve
Had added to their own an oversound,
Her tone of meaning but without the words.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The first rule of venture capitalism should be Shoot the Inventor.”
—Richard, Sir Storey (b. 1937)