Statutory interpretation is at once the most practical and the most theorectical of subjects. On the one hand 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. On the other hand there is now a vast body of literature that tackles legal interpretation from multiple theoretical perspectives. While this book touches on a number of these current theoretical concerns, it is more concerned with practice. The primary focus is on the techniques and reasoning used by lawyers and judges on a daily basis to resolve interpretation problems. The book deciphers the often confusing and contradictory rules of interpretation, explains the way these rules relate to each other, and focuses on the strategic use of the rules in constructing arguments and justifying outcomes.

The second edition of Statutory Interpretation has been thoroughly updated and expanded. It includes a new chapter on the presumed application of legislation, as well as important additions to the chapters dealing with rules about meaning and the chapters on textual, purposive, consequential, and policy analysis. This is a desk book 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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"[O]ne of Canada's best known writers in the field. Professor Sullivan's book should prove to be a very helpful guide to all those seeking enlightenment on the subject. I am pleased to commend it."

The Honourable Gerard V. La Forest, Supreme Court of Canada (from the foreword to the first edition)