98. Finally, it is essential, both under our domestic law and under international law (for example, article 7 of the ECHR and article 15 of the ICCPR), that the principle of legal certainty should be respected, above all in criminal proceedings. As the law of this country has long recognised, that means that criminal legislation whose meaning is unclear should be given a restrictive rather than an expansive interpretation. The fact that considerations of policy might be better served by a broad construction do not justify a departure from that principle. 99. For the foregoing reasons, I would have allowed the appeal. Page 49