Let’s start with one of my favourites:
Section 12(1) of the Domestic Violence Act of 1996 (Effect of appeal from order) says:
“An appeal from a safety order or a barring order shall, if the court that made the order or the court to which the appeal is brought so determines (but not otherwise), stay the operation of the order on such terms (if any) as may be imposed by the court making the determination.”
One needs to read that long and often. I remember as a kid being taught in grammar class that phrases in parentheses or brackets should be able to be removed without disturbing the sense of the sentence. If you remove the portion between the commas it means the Order is stayed, but if you leave it there it means (I think) that the Order is effective immediately despite the appeal.
What lawyers are taught is that in interpreting legislation, one can ignore the punctuation, and just extract the actual meaning.
It probably means the appeal does not stop the Order taking effect, unless the judge directs otherwise. If it keeps me scratching my head, and I’ve been doing this for a long time. How can we expect your average member of the public to understand it?
