Complete 8 pages APA formatted article: The Statutory Interpretation as a Tool for the Formulation of the Courts Judgment. Under all circumstances, ‘the statutes assume the existence of the Common Law and they would have no meaning except by reference to the Common Law’ (Geldart, 1995, 2)

A first step towards the complete presentation of the methods of statutory interpretation is the definition of ‘interpretation’ as it appears and operates in the legal area. In this context the following definition could be applied: ‘interpretation is the activity we engage in when we are trying to find the meaning of something’. According to Marmor (1997, 2-3), this definition should be followed by the following questions: ‘first, what sorts of things have meaning? Secondly, does the validity of an interpretation consist in the discovery of such meanings, or can such validity exist even if we create such meanings by our interpretations? Thirdly, why should anyone ever engage in this activity, that is, what value is served by finding or creating meaning for something?’ The above questions, according to Marmor, represent the following issues: The first question refers to the interpretation. the second refers to the validity, and the third refers to the justification.

In very early years, around 1776-1789, a rather complicated method of statutory interpretation appeared. This involved the extension and the limitation of the statutes. The first part of the method (i.e. the extension) included ‘adding to statutory lists and the liberal interpretation of statutes dealing with the selected subject matter’. On the other hand, the limitation included ‘both restraining coverage suggested by overly broad texts to help the legislature achieve an imperfectly thought-out scheme and the narrow interpretation of statutes in derogation of the common law or common right’ (Popkin, 1999, 45). The above method was mainly applied in order to eliminate (to the highest possible level) the chances of ‘absurdity and injustice’ as well as to help to the creation of ‘convenient results’. Although the basic targets of this interpretation technique could justify the ‘slight’ alteration of the legal text as well as the ‘adaptation’ of the facts of each particular case in the general law environment of a specific period of time, it seems that the results targeted were rather difficult to achieve.