Mischief rule

The mischief rule is a way of interpreting laws that is used when the words in the law are unclear or could have more than one meaning. It is a rule that helps judges figure out what the law is supposed to do or what problem it is meant to solve.

Imagine you and your friend are playing a game with a ball, but you forgot the rules. So, you make up new rules that say whoever touches the ball first gets to keep it. But then, your friend touches it first and refuses to give it back, even though you both know that wasn't the original rule.

This is kind of like what happens with laws: sometimes people disagree on what they mean because the wording is confusing, incomplete or out of touch with current events.

The mischief rule tries to figure out what the law was intended to do and then uses that intention to make a decision. It does this by looking at the history and purpose of the law, as well as the context in which it was created.

Using the same example of the game, let's say you and your friend tell someone else about your game and they say "That's not really fair, someone could just hog the ball." Then you remember that the original rule was to keep passing the ball around so everyone could play. So now you can use that original intention to remind your friend of the true rule and make things fair again.

Similarly, if a law is meant to stop people from doing something dangerous, for example, the mischief rule would use that purpose to try to interpret the text of the law in a way that helps achieve this goal.

In short, the mischief rule is a way of figuring out what a law means when the words are not crystal clear.