Unit Synopsis
LAWS11059 Statutory interpretation has a specific focus on locating and using legislation, aids to interpretation, and deployment of interpretative techniques. In this unit you will learn how to determine whether the exercise of a statutory power is invalid if a condition or procedure regulating its exercise, is breached; whether a law has a retrospective operation; whether a statutory offence contains a mental ingredient to be proved by the prosecution (mens rea), and if so, what that ingredient is; the scope of a statutory power to make delegated legislation in the light of delegated legislation, which has purportedly been made under a power; and the application of a rule in any applicable charter of human rights. A law graduate should be able to give a reasoned opinion as to the appropriate meaning of a legislative provision which takes adequate account of the law of statutory interpretation. This unit meets the LPAB requirements for statutory interpretation.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 20% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 20% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 60% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 75.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 5.88% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Self-Reflection
Structure of the course
The course would benefit from a more generalisable content in the early weeks. This would allow students to understand basic concepts before they consider core interpretive issues. Additionally, this would help students enter courses on constitutional law, equity and trusts, and administrative law more prepared.
I understand that Darshan Datar redesigned the unit materials during 2025 to address these points.
Source: Student feedback
First year matterial
The first 4 weeks will be structured as a first year introductory unit which help students grasp the nature of institutions in the legal system. Students have indicated that the subject matter of statutory interpretation is complex and difficult to follow for a first year student and accordingly, a complete revision of the course is going to be undertaken in 2025.
I understand that Darshan Datar redesigned the unit materials during 2025 to address these points.
Source: Student feedback
The number and weighting of assessment items should be reviewed
The assessment be reviewed by the unit coordinator for 2026.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Locate and interpret legislation, legislative instruments and related materials and apply them to practical scenarios.
- Analyse, evaluate and apply the statutory interpretation principles from the decisions of the High Court to factual problems.
- Communicate effectively in writing the theoretical concepts underpinning approaches to statutory interpretation.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • |
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | |
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |