It is impossible to do anything in law without interpreting the words of others and anticipating how others will interpret or misinterpret one's own words. Statutory Interpretation, by Ruth Sullivan, takes the mystery out of interpreting legal documents. The book deciphers the often confusing and contradictory rules of interpretation and explains the way these rules relate to each other. More than that, the book goes beyond the content of the rules and focuses on their strategic use in constructing arguments and justifying outcomes. This is a deskbook no legal practitioner should be without.

After teaching English literature and composition for several years at Concordia University in Montreal, Ruth Sullivan received her LL.B. and B.C.L. from McGill University. She completed the Legislative Drafting Program at the University of Ottawa and clerked for Chief Justice Laskin at the Supreme Court of Canada. After completing her bar exams, and a Masters in Legislation from the University of Ottawa, she joined the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa in 1984. Her primary interests are administrative law, Statutory Interpretation, linguistics, legal drafting, and legal theory. She has worked in the Legislation Section and the Regulations Section of the Department of Justice and directed the Graduate Program in Legislation and Legal Drafting. She has taught drafting and interpretation in Kuala Lumpur, Kiev, the Caribbean, and Rome, as well as Ottawa.

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Mr. Justice Gerard V. La Forest served on the Supreme Court of Canada from 1985 to 1997.

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