26/05/1994

OF CRIMINAL APPEAL (INFERIOR)

DE GAETANO VINCENT

THE POLICE vs DARRYL BURR

N/A

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N/A

BREACH OF SECTION 338(Z) OF THE CRIMINAL CODE - PUBLIC DEED OF PERSONAL SEPARATION - RULES OF INTERPRETATION - WHETHER MAINTENANCE WAS ORDERED BY A COURT

In interpreting the law in order to determine whether a particular act or omission falls within thepurport of a given statute, the court must be careful not to usurp the functions of the legislator.If conduct of a particular kind stands outside the language of a penal section, the fact that a Court takes the view that it is through inadvertence of the Legislature that it has not been included does not authorize it to assume to remedy the omission by giving the penal provision a wider scope than its language admits. The decree authorizing the parties to proceed to the deed of separation lacks the essential ingredient of a "court order". A "court order" is essentially the manifestation ofthe court's will which is being imposed on one or more of the parties, even though one or more of the parties may have, previously to the order, agreed with such imposition.