R&W-KATIE PLG 155(1) Statutes & Regulations II - Sept. 17, 2024 PDF

Finding and Interpreting Statutes and Regulations PLG 155(1) September 17, 2024 Review From Last Week 1. What is the difference between a statute and a regulation? 2. What is an amending statute? 3. What is the difference between an annual and consolidated statute? 4. What is a revised statu...

Finding and Interpreting Statutes and Regulations PLG 155(1) September 17, 2024 Review From Last Week 1. What is the difference between a statute and a regulation? 2. What is an amending statute? 3. What is the difference between an annual and consolidated statute? 4. What is a revised statute? Today’s Agenda Part I: Citation of statutes and regulations Part II: Interpreting legislation Part III: Finding federal and provincial statutes and regulations Today’s Objectives By the end of today’s class, you will be able to: Begin to apply the McGill Guide rules of citation for legislation Understand the basic parts of a statute Apply different approaches to analyze legislation Locate statutes and regulations using Justice Laws and e-Laws PART I: CITING STATUTES & REGULATIONS Citing Legislation This is outlined in Chapter 2 – Legislation in your McGill Guide Citation is different for statutes and regulations A key thing to keep in mind is that a statute or regulation that was not part of a historical revision will not be cited to that revision For example: a federal law passed in 2018 will not be cited as RSC 1985 because this law was not in existence when the RSC 1985 was created Citing Statutes – Volume Title Abbreviations RSC = Revised Statutes of Canada SC = Statutes of Canada RSO = Revised Statutes of Ontario SO = Statutes of Ontario CRC = Consolidated Regulations of Canada RRO = Revised Regulations of Ontario Citing Statutes A statute citation is made up of four components: (1) Statute title (2) Volume title abbreviation (3) Chapter number (4) Section number (pinpoint) Examples: Development Charges Act, SO 1997, c 27, s 2 [statute title] [volume title] [chapter #] [section #] Business Corporations Act, RSO 1990, c B.16, s 2 Citing Statutes – Statute Title Development Charges Act, SO 1997, c 27, s 2 The statute title is always in italics and the short title is used When you are finding the short title in the statute, look for the words “This act may be cited as…” If the statute contains a year (i.e. Payday Loans Act, 2008), include the year in the statute title in italics Citing Statutes – Volume Title Development Charges Act, SO 1997, c 27, s2 SO 1997 = Statutes of Ontario 1997 This statute was passed in 1997 (it was not in the RSO 1990 revision), so it is written according to the year it was passed Do not put periods in SO or RSO Citing Statutes – Chapter Number Development Charges Act, SO 1997, c 27, s 2 c 27 = the 27th statute passed in 1997 The chapter numbers will look different for revised statute citations Example: c A.10, c B-16, or c C.32 Federal revised statutes use a hyphen (i.e. c B-16); Ontario revised statutes use a period (c A.10) Do not put a period after the letter c Citing Statutes – Section Number Development Charges Act, SO 1997, c 27, s 2 This is referred to as a pinpoint citation When you are referring to a specific section of a statute in your work, you write it at the very end of the statute citation In the example above, the writer is referring to section 2 of that statute You write “s” for one section (s 2), “ss” for multiple sections (ss 4, 15-20) Do not put a period after the letter s Citing Regulations Regulations are usually cited by year and number: the year in which the regulation was made and the chronological number of the regulation within that year The title of the regulation does not always need to be in the citation, but it is good practice to include it Regulations of Canada are identified by SOR, which stands for Statutory Orders and Regulations Citing Federal Regulations The federal regulation titled Canada Student Loans Regulations, which was made under the Canada Student Loans Act, is cited as: Canada Student Loans Regulations, SOR/93- 392 This tells us that it was the 392nd federal regulation registered in 1993 Citing Consolidated Federal Regulations The last consolidation of federal regulations was in 1978 It is cited as the Consolidated Regulations of Canada (CRC) and includes all regulations that were in force on December 31, 1977, each of which has its own chapter number Regulations from this 1978 consolidation are cited as: title, CRC, chapter number, a pinpoint (if needed), and the year Certification of Countries Granting Equal Copyright  Citing Ontario Regulations Provincial regulations are identified by an abbreviated name of the province plus the word Reg for regulation The citation for the regulation Driver Licence Examinations, made under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act, is cited as: Driver Licence Examinations, O Reg 341/94 Citing Consolidated Ontario Regulations The last consolidation of Ontario regulations took place in 1990 All regulations then in force were incorporated into the Revised Regulations of Ontario (RRO) and assigned a number Regulations from the 1990 revision are cited as RRO 1990, plus the regulation number Example: the citation for the revised Ontario regulation titled Speed Limits, made under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act, is: Knowledge Check Film Classification Act, 2005, SO 2005, c 17, s 4 Mortgages Act, RSO 1990, c M.40, s 2(3) Pension Act, RSC 1985, c P-6 Language Skills Act, SC 2013, c 36, s 2 1. Is the statute federal or provincial? 2. Is it an annual or a revised statute? 3. What are the chapter and section numbers?  PART II: INTERPRETING LEGISLATION The Basic Parts of a Statute 1) Title – can be long or short 2) Preamble or Purpose – describes what the statute was designed to do or why it was enacted 3) Definitions or Interpretation – defines important terms used in the statute 4) Application or Scope – the statute will explain who or what it applies to 5) Body – this is where the actual law is set out (can be broken down into parts, sections, subsections, paragraphs, and subparagraphs) 6) Power to Make Regulations – this provision will describe who is authorized to make regulations under the statute 7) Coming Into Force or Commencement – this provision will explain how and when the statute will come into force *note: (6) and (7) are sometimes referred to as housekeeping The Basic Parts of a Statute - Title Statutes can have a short title or long title The short title is used in the McGill Guide statute citation There will often be a provision in the statute with the heading “Short title” The long title is the full name of the statute and it typically begins with The Basic Parts of a Statute – Preamble The preamble or or Purpose purpose sets out what the statute is designed to do A preamble will often begin with “Whereas…” The purpose section will often begin with “The [Excerpt from the Canada Health Act, RSC 1985, c C-6] purpose of this Act The Basic Parts of a Statute – Interpretation The definitions or interpretation section is used to define key terms used in the statute Sometimes words like “person”, “child”, or “member” are specifically defined It is a good idea to refer back to the definitions or interpretation section as you read through a statute The Basic Parts of a Statute – Interpretation The definitions or interpretation section can also tell you which ministry is responsible for the statute Remember that there could be multiple definitions or interpretation sections within one statute [Excerpt from the Canada Marine Act, SC 1998, c 10] The Basic Parts of a Statute – Application This section provides information about the breadth of a statute and who or [Excerpt from the Canada Marine Act, SC 1998, c 10] what the statute applies to It can also explain how the statute relates to other statutes or legislative The Basic Parts of a Statute – Body The body of the statute lays out the law in a structured way The body is organized into parts, sections, subsections, paragraphs, and [Excerpt from the Telecommunications Act, SC 1993, c 38] subparagraphs The Basic Parts of a Statute – Body PART I (written as I, II, III, IV, etc.) 15. Section (written as 1., 2., 3., 4., etc.) (1) Subsection (written as (1), (2), (3), (4), etc.) (a) Paragraph (written as (a), (b), (c), (d), etc.) (i) Subparagraph (written as (i), (ii), (iii), etc.)  The Basic Parts of a Statute – Body Keeping gaming or betting house 201 = 201 (1) Every person who keeps a common gaming house or sectio common betting house is guilty of n (a)an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or (b)an offence punishable on summary conviction. (1) and (2) = Person found in or owner permitting use subsections (2) Every one who (c)is found, without lawful excuse, in a common gaming house or common betting house, or (d)as owner, landlord, lessor, tenant, occupier or agent, knowingly (a) and (b) permits a place to be let or used for the purposes of a common = gaming house or common betting house, is guilty of an offence paragraphs punishable on summary conviction. The Basic Parts of a Statute – Coming Into Force There is a provision in a statute providing its coming into force (or commencement) information [Excerpt from the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, SC 1997, c 9] You will often find that coming into force information has been omitted from consolidated versions of the statute – if this is the case, look up the annual statute to [Excerpt from the Ontario Craft Beer Week Act, 2017, SO 2017, c 30] see how it looked when it was originally enacted Reading Statutes and Regulations To understand a statutory provision, begin by asking the following preliminary questions: 1. What matters does the statute deal with? 2. What matters does this particular provision of the statute deal with? 3. To whom is the particular provision directed? For example: is it directed toward the general public, a corporation, a profession, a spouse? Reading Statutes and Regulations 4. Consider whether the provision does any of the following: a. Orders something to be done (imperative) b. Prohibits something from being done (prohibitive) c. Permits something to be done (permissive) If it does order, prohibit, or permit something, under what circumstances does it do so? 5. If there is an order or prohibition, how is it enforced? Is there a penalty? Reading Statutes and Regulations Read all subsections contained in a section – there could be exceptions to a rule, additional criteria listed, etc. Don’t read a statutory provision in isolation – it is a good idea to read sections before and after the provision to make sure you have the full picture Glance back at the definitions/interpretation section to make sure you understand the meaning given to particular terms in the statute Reading Statutes and Regulations Look to see if regulations have been made under the statute and if they are related to your research When you are copying out a statutory provision to include in your research, reproduce it word for word in quotation marks and cite it appropriately If there is a word or phrase in the provision that you do not understand (and it is not defined), you can conduct case law research Statutory Language Pay close attention to the words used in a statute – they are chosen carefully May = the person/entity is permitted to do something Must or shall = the person/entity has to do something Except And Or Notwithstanding = without regard to/even if Delegate = giving the power to do something to someone  Breaking Down a Statutory Provision Sometimes you need to break down a provision when it has multiple elements or subsections Example from the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46 (page 23 of your text): 265(1) A person commits an assault when… (b) he attempts or threatens, by an act or gesture, to apply force to another person, if he has, or causes that other person to believe on reasonable grounds that he has, present ability to effect his purpose. This is a wordy provision that can be difficult to properly understand because it contains several elements and “or” statements Breaking Down a Statutory Provision 265(1) A person commits an assault when… (b) he attempts or threatens, by an act or gesture, to apply force to another person, if he has, or causes that other person to believe on reasonable grounds that he has, present ability to effect his purpose. Your text recommends breaking down a provision like this by writing out the different ways an assault can be committed: A person commits an assault when: 1. He attempts by an act or a gesture to apply force to another person 2. He threatens by an act or a gesture to apply force to another person and 3. If he has present ability to effect his purpose 4. If he causes that other person to believe on reasonable grounds that he has present ability to effect his purpose Building Up a Statutory Provision Sometimes you have to build up a statutory provision where it refers to other provisions in the statute (or a different statute altogether) Example from the Canada Business Corporations Act, RSC 1985, c C-44 (page 24 of your text): 108(1) A director of a corporation ceases to hold office when the director (a) dies or resigns; (b) is removed in accordance with section 109; or (c) becomes disqualified under subsection 105(1). In this example, the provision is directing you to look at section 109 and subsection 105(1) Review pages 24-25 of your text where section 109 and Reading A Regulation You read a regulatory provision the same way you read a statutory provision To fully understand a particular point of law, it may be necessary to read a regulation together with: Other sections of that regulation Provisions of the statute under which a regulation was made Provisions of another statute or regulation PART III: FINDING FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL STATUTES AND REGULATIONS Updating Statutes and Regulations Remember that consolidated versions of statutes and regulations on Justice Laws and eLaws are updated regularly Look at the currency date to find out how current the statute or regulation is Look at the “last amended” date to see when the last amendment was made Sometimes you will need to do some updating work where you track bills that are before the legislature We will look at how to do this later in the Federal Laws – Justice Laws Demo Click here to access Justice Laws Find the consolidated version of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, c 27 Provincial Laws – e-Laws Demo Click here to access e-Laws Find the consolidated version of the Public Hospitals Act, RSO 1990, c P.40 Summary Today we: Learned how to cite federal and provincial statutes and regulations Unpacked the basic parts of a statute Learned some techniques to help interpret statutes Located statutes and regulations using Justice Laws and e-Laws Next week we will look at case law Thank you for listening!