Application

• Author: John Mark Keyes/Wendy Gordon
• Pages: 131-144

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Application

Understanding what legislation means in general does not itself

answer the question of how it applies in a particular fact situation.

Legislation is seldom interpreted in the abstract. People read it to

resolve practical questions arising in particular circumstances. e

attention of courts is overwhelmingly focused on resolving these

questions. And application provisions do not resolve all questions

about how legislation applies in particular circumstances; applica-

tion provisions often themselves require interpretation to under-

stand how they apply.

e meaning attributed to a legislative text is inf‌luenced by the

facts to which it is being applied. is is clearly demonstrated by the

way Canadian courts use the concept of plausibility and consider

the consequences of applying an interpretation to particular facts

(consequential analysis). is chapter begins by considering how

they do this.

Legislation sometimes contains application provisions describ-

ing what its other provisions apply to. Application provisions are

typically found at the beginning of legislation along with def‌in-

itions and other interpretive provisions, which also inform the

application of the rest of the legislation.