Teacher Resource 5 - The House Number Act (answers)This activity includes an element of problem solving which is an essential skill when studying A level law. The learner needs to be able to apply facts and information to a novel situation. This skill is developed with practise and learners should be encouraged to look at the law from different perspectives, see alternative meanings and solutions and be able to argue their case accordingly. This activity also highlights the difficulties faced when drafting the law and trying to consider all future eventualities. This activity could either be done as an introduction to the topic of Statutory Interpretation to demonstrate the issues that judges have to deal with when applying the law. Alternatively, this activity could be done after the learners have studied the rules and approaches of Statutory Interpretation so they can apply their knowledge to the situations raised in the questions. It is worth having access to a dictionary (either a paper copy or on their phones) as the learners should be encouraged to look up certain words mentioned in the Act.

N.B. This Act is fictitious.

1. Why would it be difficult for parliament to make laws for your local area Mr and Mrs A live in an up market area where the houses only have names. Their house is called ‘The Larches’ and has no number.

2. Miss B has a brand new all-glass door. Her number is screwed to the garden gate.

3. Mr C lives in a flat over a chemist shop but has his own door at the back of the shop, which has no number).

4. Mrs D lives with her daughter in a cottage. They have a large plaque that they ordered from the garden centre. It has a beehive in the centre, the words ‘Honey Cottage’ written across the top and the words ‘TWENTY SEVEN’ written along the bottom. It is screwed to the wall next to the door.

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Section 1 states that all houses must have a number, so literally they are guilty.

This will depend on the interpretation of the word ‘near’ in section 2. Whether the garden gate is the front of the house is open to interpretation.

It may be that Mr C does not require a number as the door at the front of the house is a shop and therefore does not require a number as it is a commercial building. This also raises the problem of whether a ‘flat’ is included in The House Number Act (2001).

The number is near to the front door but the problem is that it is written as words. The Act does not state which form the numbers must take.

5. Miss E is very artistic and has painted her door dark green. Above the knocker she has painted a white oval upon which the number of the house is painted in dark green.

6. The purpose of the Act was first discussed in a Government White Paper and caused a long debate at the second reading of the bill in the House of Commons. When interpreting the law, can a judge look at these two things?

1. What was the purpose of this Act?

2. What type of law has this Act created?

3. Which words in the Act might a judge wish to look up in a dictionary?

Extension activities1. Re-draft The House Number Act (2001). Try to remove any ambiguities.

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Literally, Miss E is guilty but if the purpose of the Act is to improve visibility then she may not be guilty.

The White Paper and Hansard are extrinsic aids and may help find the purpose of the Act. Judges are only allowed to consult Hansard as a last resort since Pepper v Hart (1993). They should also be careful when reading the Government White Paper as many changes could have been made after this stage.

The long title at the beginning of the Act is an intrinsic aid and mentions the aim of the Act – to improve visibility.

Section 5 mentions a ‘fine’ and therefore, this is a criminal offence.

Near, house, residential, number.

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