TITLE OF THE ARTICLE: Taming the Unruly Horse of Rules of Interpretation: A Review of Marwa & Anor v Nyako & Ors
AUTHORS:
JOHN FUNSHO OLORUNFEMI
BENSON AYODELE OLOWORARAN*
ABSTRACT:
The duty of courts is to interpret laws to give effect to the intention of the parliament. The means of actuating this is diverse and intricate due to the possibility of words gaining uncertain meaning depending on usage and unforeseeable social-political circumstances. The most important of these rules are the literal, golden and the mischief rules of interpretation. There is also the purposive approach to the interpretation of statutes. In an attempt at analysing the desirability of these rules of interpretation and how they have been applied by our courts, this article examines the case of Marwa & Anor v Nyako & Ors in light of other decisions of our courts and discovers that the rules of statutory interpretation as well as the tools of statutory construction have been applied without much adherence to any specific determinant principles in choosing which rule of interpretation or tools of construction to use in each case. This article concludes that there is a gradual erosion by the courts from interpretation of statutes toward construction of statutes, which though may suffice for political as well as social exigencies, but would definitely adversely affect judicial precedence and judicial consistency on which our legal system is built.