Purposive Rule of Interpretation

It is a derivation of Mischief Rule set in Heydon's case, and intended to replace the Mischief Rule, the Plain Meaning rule and the Golden Rule. It is used when the courts use extraneous materials from the pre-enactment phase of legislation, including early draft, committee reports etc. It involves a rejection of the exclusionary rule.

In Mangin v. Inland Revenue Commission the Privy Council held:-

the object of the construction of statute, be it to ascertain the will of the legislature, it may be presumed that neither injustice nor absurdity was intended. If, therefore a literal interpretation would roduce such a result and the language admits of an interpretation which would avoid it, then such an interpretation may be adopted.