R (on the application of Secretary of State for Home Department) v Southwark Crown Court [2013] All ER (D) 197 (Dec)
Section 13(1)(b) of the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003 should be read: “(1) Where a request for assistance in obtaining evidence in a part of the UK is received by the territorial authority for that part, the authority may...—(b) direct that a search warrant or order be applied for under or by virtue of section 16 or 17 or, in relation to evidence in Scotland, 18.”
It was settled law that it was the task of the court to make sense of the text of the statutory provision read in its appropriate context and within the limits of the judicial role. The courts were ever mindful that their constitutional role in that field was interpretative. They had to abstain from any course which might have the appearance of judicial legislation. A statute was expressed in language approved and enacted by the legislature. Accordingly, the courts exercised considerable caution before adding or omitting or substituting words. Before interpreting a statute in that way, the court had to be abundantly
