Statutes and the Intention of the Lawmaker as the Ultimate Guide to their Applicability

History and Prospects

On Friday 8 October Professor Horst Lücke presented the lecture: “Statutes and the Intention of the Lawmaker as the Ultimate Guide to their Applicability: History and Prospects.” The event took place at the Banco Court, chaired by The Hon Justice Susan Kiefel.

The presentation was recorded with the permission of the Supreme Court of Queensland Library and can be accessed via the link below.

Overview

As Professor Lücke highlights, the intention of the law maker was first established as the basic interpretative principle by the great common lawyers such as Christopher St German, Thomas Egerton, Christopher Hatton, Edmund Plowden, Francis Bacon and in particular, Edward Coke. The principle has endured and influenced the changing interpretative fashions which have marked the periods of the equity of the statute, of literalism and purposive interpretation. While greater reliance on intention would further mitigate the continuing impact of the literalist tradition, purposive interpretation can be taken too far as Professor Lücke’s comparison of Australian and English cases with Continental cases shows.

In particular, Professor Lücke’s presentation addresses the following topics:

• The Interpretative Power
• The Intention of the Lawmaker
• Strict Literalism: The Buriel of Epichaia
• The Return of Epichaia?

The Bar Association of Queensland gratefully acknowledges the Supreme Court of Queensland Library for permitting the recording and use of this lecture for the purposes of the Association’s Continuing Professional Development Program. A full-text transcript of the lecture will be published in the 2011 Supreme Court History Program Year Book, available through the Supreme Court Library.

The video recording can be accessed via the following link:

http://www.sclqld.org.au/schp/lectures/lucke/

Professor Horst Lücke

Professor Horst Lücke was born and educated in Germany. He is a Professor Emeritus, University of Adelaide and an Honorary Professor of Law and the University of Queensland. He has been closely associated with the University of Adelaide since 1959, occupying inter alia the positions of Professor of Law (1967-84) and Head of the Law School (1970-72, 1976-78). Professor Lücke has also taught at universities in New York, Oxford, Freiburg, Hamburg and at Bond University. He has published widely in Australian and in international journals. One of his main interests is comparative law.