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Extrinsic Evidence And Statutory Interpretation: Judicial Discretion In Context, W. H. Charles

Dalhousie Law Journal

... the Supreme Court of Canada recently signalled an increasing receptiveness to the use of extrinsic materials in the Anti-Inflation Reference. Accordingly, I expect that we will see an increasing use by appellate courts of extrinsic evidence. ' This prediction was made by the Honourable Brian Dickson, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, in an address in 1979. His statement concerns a problem that has haunted Canadian, English, and commonwealth courts for years, namely, how far beyond the actual words of the statute itself is it permissible for courts to roam in their efforts to interpret legislation? Put …