Hancock – UK Supreme Court references the Luke principle that a strained interpretation can be adopted to implement clear Parliamentary intention

Lady Arden referred with apparent approval to the principle in Luke v Inland Revenue Comrs [1963] AC 557, stating:

This enables the court, when interpreting a statute, to adopt (my words) a strained interpretation in place of one which would be contrary to the clear intention of Parliament.

Although she confirmed an interpretation of a provision that effectively read the phrase “or include” out of it, she did not consider it necessary to apply the Luke principle to do so as she considered that the wording of the provisions themselves evinced an intention that effectively ignored those two words.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Hancock & Anor v Revenue and Customs [2019] UKSC 24 under Statutory Interpretation - Redundancy.