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:
“Though pedantry denies,
It’s plain the Bible means
That Solomon grew wise
While talking with his queens....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“As soon as man began considering himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“In the animal kingdom, the rule is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)