Review article
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.30925/zpfsr.47.2.17
General Methods of Statutory Interpretation and Legal Gap-Filling as Legal Rules
Mate Alerić
; Independent Researcher, Pula, Croatia
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* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Croatian legal scholarship and case law approach general methods of statutory interpretation and legal gap-filling primarily as matters of general theory. The content of these methods is defined in accordance with the established tenets of European legal thought, yet without interest in examining their positive-law foundation in the Republic of Croatia. Based on the constitutional principles of the separation of powers, legality, legal certainty, and equality, the article excludes the possibility of leaving these methods to the full discretion of the interpreter and identifies a legal gap regarding their regulation. It then proposes and examines the hypothesis that said gap may be filled by the rules contained in §§6 and 7 of the Austrian General Civil Code pursuant to the Croatian Act on the Manner of Application of Normative Acts Enacted Before 6 April 1941. An affirmative conclusion is reached through the application of doctrinal, historical, and comparative methodology. Under the rules in question, a statute may be interpreted only in accordance with the proper meaning of its words in context and the clear intention of the legislator. Provisions governing similar cases should apply to cases lacking specific regulation; where this is not possible, principles of natural law should apply instead. These rules reflect the aforementioned constitutional principles and ensure the integrity of a legal order in which judges may neither refuse to decide a case due to the absence of a specific rule nor arbitrarily dictate one.
Keywords
methods of statutory interpretation; legal gaps; codification; Austrian General Civil Code; Italian Civil Code.
Hrčak ID:
350956
URI
Publication date:
15.9.2026.
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