Library guides: Australian Legislation: Statutory Interpretation

Statutory Interpretation Legislation

Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) (FRL)
"This Act is like a dictionary and manual to use when reading and interpreting Commonwealth Acts and instruments made under Commonwealth Acts." (Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) s 1A).
Section 15AB provides for the use of 'extrinsic material in the interpretation of an Act'. Go to the Commonwealth tab of this guide for more information about how to find the various types of 'extrinsic material'.
Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (Vic) (Victorian Legislation)
Section 35 provides that ... 'In the interpretation of a provision of an Act or subordinate instrument .... 35(b) consideration may be given to any matter or document that is relevant including but not limited to:...'
Go to the Victoria tab of this guide for more information about how to find the various types of documents.
Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW)
Section 34 provides for the use of 'extrinsic material in the interpretation of Acts and statutory rules'.
Go to the New South Wales tab of this guide for more information about how to find the various types of 'extrinsic material'.

Annotated Legislation: Acts, Regs & Rules

Annotated Legislation typically provides the text of the legislation as well as commentary about the legislation. Annotated legislation is useful for (a) understanding and interpreting an Act or a specific section of an Act using the ‘commentary’ and (b) tracing the legislative history of specific provisions of an Act using the legislative history notes following each section.

Examples of annotated legislation include:

Uniform Evidence Law /Odgers (Westlaw AU)
Uniform Evidence Law is the definitive guide to New South Wales, Commonwealth and Victorian evidence law. An introduction details the history of the legislation and provides an overview of its operation. Uniform Evidence Law is divided into two main sections: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW and Cth) and Evidence Act 2008 (Vic).
Miller’s Australian Competition and Consumer Law Annotated (Westlaw AU)
Contains the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 Cth and the Competition and Consumer Regulations 2010 Cth with annotations/commentary explaining the operation of the legislation and providing a detailed analysis of the relevant case law.
Civil Procedure Victoria / Williams (LexisNexisAU)
This service provides authoritative and practical commentary on the rules of Court and other core legislation including the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2015 & Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005, County Court Civil Procedure Rules 2008 and the Magistrates’ Court General Civil Procedure Rules 2010.
Westlaw AU Legislation Locator
Westlaw AU: this table identifies where legislation is reproduced, in full or in extract form, in titles on the Westlaw AU platform. It also indicates whether the legislation is annotated or not, and whether separate commentary appears.