Whitely v Chappel (1868) LR 4 QB 147

A statute made it an offence 'to impersonate any person entitled to vote.' The defendant used the vote of a dead man. The statute relating to voting rights required a person to be living in order to be entitled to vote. 

Held:

The literal rule was applied and the defendant was thus acquitted.

Back to lecture outline on the literal rule of statutory interpretation