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.5 Interpretation of statutes Statutory interpretation is used when the meaning in law of an Act of Parliament or another piece of legislation must be determined. Words can be ambiguous or imprecise, despite careful drafting of the Acts, and then various theoretical rules and methods are used to interpret what the statute seeks to achieve. This is not vague guesswork or a subjective interpretation of what the law should be. Rather, this exercise has been defined as a dynamic and functional process through which the text of the legislation and the contextual factors surrounding it are objectively researched to determine the purpose of the legislation and give effect to it in the light of the principles prescribed by the Constitution. 1.5.1 The relationship between the stare decisis rule and the interpretation of statutes South Africa’s tripartite separation of powers has the result that, theoretically, Parliament makes laws while the judiciary applies them. But nothing is ever quite that clear-cut. A study of the stare decisis rule will have shown that one of the sources of law is the decisions of the judiciary on what the law is. So an interpretation by a court of the meaning of a piece of legislation, coupled with the precedent system, means that other courts are bound by that legislation as Page 13 interpreted by the court, until a superior court places a different interpretation on it, or the legislature amends it. This does not mean that the courts determine statute law — their function is to interpret and apply a statute without amending or altering its provisions. It does, however, mean that a lower court applies a higher court’s interpretation of the wording of an Act, rather than applying the wording of the Act itself. 1.5.2 The influence of the Constitution on the interpretation of statutes Before the advent of the Constitution, statutes were interpreted according to the provisions of the Interpretation Act 33 of 1957 and set rules and principles deriving from common law. The Constitution is now the fundamental and supreme law of the country, and any statute that conflicts with the Constitution, whether promulgated before or after the Constitution, can be declared invalid. The Constitution also sets out guidelines for interpreting statutes so as to determine whether they conflict with the Constitution. Most importantly, section 39(1) states that, when interpreting the Bill of Rights, a court must