Alberta, Canada
The following excerpt is from Taylor v. Rossu, 1996 CanLII 10505 (AB QB):
I am mindful of the comments expressed by my colleague Veit J. where she stated in Armstrong v. Elder, supra, at p. 14: I accept that a court cannot amend a statute. Indeed, it cannot read words into a statute that are not there. However, a court is entitled to find content for general words such as “spouse”. A normal speaker of English uses expressions like “common law wife”, “common law husband”.
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.