The Entire Context

• Author: Ruth Sullivan
• Pages: 49-56

49

CHA PTER 3

THE ENTIRE CONTEXT

A. INTRODUC TION

As Driedger’s modern principle tells us, to achieve a sound interpret-

ation of a legislative text, the words to be inter preted must be read in

their “entire context”:

the words of an Act are to be rea d in their entire context a nd in their

grammat ical and ordinar y sense harmon iously with the scheme of

the Act, the object of the Act, and t he intention of Parliament.1

The words must f‌irst be read in their immediate context to establish a

f‌irst impression meaning. The immediate context consists of as much

of the surrounding text a s is needed to make sense of the words. This

usually is lim ited to the section or subsection in which the words ap-

pear. Next, the f‌irst impression meaning must be tested against the

larger context, and any inconsistency between the f‌irst impression

meaning and the indicators of legislative intent derived from the larger

context must be resolved. Finally, the interpreter must consider wheth-

er the provision can apply to the facts of the c ase having regard to the

presumptions against the retroactive, retrospective, and extra-territorial

application of legislation and the presumption of Crown immunity.

1 For discuss ion of the modern principle, see Chapt er 2, Section F.