Words and Phrases
| Author | Emily Allbon/Ian Hunter/Peter Clinch |
| Pages | 147-157 |
Chapter 9
Words and Phrases
9.1 INTRODUCTION
Some legal problems revolve around discovering a precise definition for a word or phrase used in an Act or a regulation or in a legal document such as a contract, lease or agreement. The situation might arise not just within the context of litigation but also when drafting a legal document.
Print sources come into their own for this type of research, in terms of the intellectual effort which has gone into compiling the sources.
The various dictionaries of words and phrases and other sources featured below have been compiled by expert lawyers, so that the publications contain genuine instances where the word or phrase is defined by statute or through judicial interpretation.
There are drawbacks in attempting a words or phrases search on one of the commercially available, comprehensive online databases, especially within the huge case law libraries they contain. Even the following searches may not retrieve all the relevant material.
On Lexis®Library:
the word to be defined w/10 construe! or defin! or mean! or interpret!
On Westlaw UK:
the word to be defined /10 construe! or defin! or mean! or interpret!
The reasons are that in the text of the case, the catchwords or headnote, the definition may not have been ‘flagged’ by the judge or law reporter using these terms. Further, the word ‘construction’, sometimes used in the interpretation of a word, cannot be used, for it may retrieve building and engineering law cases.
However, Westlaw UK does provide a searchable list of definitions contained in statutes and statutory instruments. At the Legislation search screen open the dialog box labelled Statutory Definitions and select the word or phrase required.
148 Legal Research: A Practitioner’s Handbook
If an added subscription is taken to Halsbury’s Laws on Lexis®Library then it is possible to search the words and phrases section of the Halsbury’s Laws index for the terms sought – see section 4.2, above, towards the end describing use of the online version. If a number of ‘commentary’ publications are subscribed to then within the Commentary library, open the Search form, use the default to search All Subscribed Commentary Sources. In Search terms, enter the word or phrase for which you require a definition, followed by w/15 (mean! or defin! or interpret!). For example, to find the definition of a shadow director, type shadow director w/15 (mean! OR defin! OR interpret!). Click on Search to retrieve your results.
Information on publications within each jurisdiction listed below is divided into conventional law dictionaries and judicial dictionaries. Conventional law dictionaries provide definitions of legal terms either not defined in a statute or by the courts, for example, ‘tort’; or provide simple definitions with the minimum of citation to statute and case law. Judicial dictionaries, on the other hand, contain definitions drawn solely from statute and case law.
Figure 9.1 provides a suggested research sequence featuring sources discussed in this chapter and elsewhere, to discover the definition of words and phrases appearing in a statute published in the United Kingdom.
9.2 ENGLAND AND WALES
9.2.1 Conventional law dictionaries
Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law (Sweet & Maxwell, 4th edn, 2015)
Jowitt has established itself as the most comprehensive dictionary of legal terms. The latest edition focuses only on the inclusion of terms not defined in statute and case law. For statutory or judicial definitions, see the sister publication: Stroud (see section 9.2.2, below).
There are many compact, conventional law dictionaries, perhaps the most popular being Osborn’s Concise Law Dictionary (Sweet & Maxwell, 12th edn, 2013). However, the definitions they provide are not sufficiently detailed and scholarly for use in practice and Jowitt is the best to use for legal research.
9.2.2 Judicial dictionaries
Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases (Sweet & Maxwell, 9th edn, 2017) plus annual cumulative supplement
Published in three volumes and kept up to date by annual supplements, provides details of judicial interpretation and well as definitions contained in statutes. The jurisdictions from which entries are drawn are not stated in the work’s introduction but law reports from England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States are cited. Some entries extend to a page and all are fully referenced to the original material.
Words & Phrases Legally Defined (LexisNexis, 5th edn, 2018) plus annual supplements
Covers definitions in Acts and judicial interpretation from England, Wales and Scotland, with extracts of cases from Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Entries are lengthier than those in Stroud and include verbatim extracts from speeches and judgments. Words and Phrases carries cross references to Halsbury’s Laws, 5th edition (see below and section 4.2, above).
What does the statute say? Use an annotated version, such as Current Law Statutes (see section 5.2.1)
Does the statute contain a definition section? Are there cross references to other statutory materials?
Does the Interpretation Act 1978 (or equivalent) provide any guidance?
Use the Table of Derivations at the back of the statute (if available) to trace earlier legislation. Alternatively, use a legislation citator (see section 10.2.2), a statute encyclopedia such as Halsbury’s Statutes (England & Wales, see section 5.2.1) or the Parliament House Book
(Scotland, see section 5.4.1)
Consult conventional law and judicial dictionaries (see 9.2–9.6)
Use ordinary English dictionaries, especially the Oxford English Dictionary
If the meaning remains ambiguous, obscure or absurd, consider undertaking Pepper v Hart research (see section 9.2.3) and/or research in Hansard to trace Ministerial statements
Consult practitioner books on statutory interpretation
Figure 9.1: Suggested research sequence to discover the definition of words and phrases appearing in a statute published in the United Kingdom
150 Legal Research: A Practitioner’s Handbook
Halsbury’s Laws (LexisNexis, 5th edn, 2008–) plus Cumulative Supplement and Noter-up
The final Index volume of this encyclopedia includes near the back a separate index to Words and Phrases with references to the appropriate Main Volume. Always carry through the search from the...
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