INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES

PROJECT WORK
ON
A Study Relating to Preamble as an aid to Construction

MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, AURANGABAD,

SUBMITTEDTO: SUBMITTED BY:

Mrs. Neha Tripathi Atulya Singh

Course teacher- Interpretation of Statues 2017/BALLB/52

A Study Relating to Preamble as an aid to Construction

Abstract

The research topic deals with the concept of “A Study Relating to Preamble as an aid to
Construction.”

The researcher would like to give the meaning of the intrinsic aid. Intrinsic aid is that aid for the
process of construction which may be found within or before the corner of the statute.

So intrinsic aid is the internal aid in the construction of statutes which is derived from

(1) Title

(2) Preamble

(3) Headings

(4) Marginal notes

(5) Punctuation

(6) Illustrations

(7) Definition section or interpretation clause

(8) Proviso

(9) Explanation

(10) Schedules

(11) Transitional Provision.

On the other hand the extrinsic aid is that aid which is taken from the outside of the statute such as
dictionary, parliamentary history, historical facts and surrounding circumstances etc. By the virtue of
the intrinsic aid the court finds out the real meaning and the will of the legislature only in case of
ambiguity in a statute. If there is no ambiguity, it is not necessary to take help from the intrinsic aids
and the court used to confer the plain meaning of the statutes.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

 PART-I INTRODUCTION
 PART-II CHAPTER-I
 PART-III CHAPTER-II
 PART-IV CONCLUSION
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF AUTHORITIES

BOOKS

1. Bhattacharyya, P: The Interpretation of Statutes, Central Law Agency,

2. Langan, P. St. J: Maxwell on the Interpretation of Statutes, Lexis Nexis,
3. Sarathi, P. Vepa: Interpretation of Statutes, Eastern Book Company, 1st ed.
4. Singh, G.P: Principle of Statutory Interpretation, Wadha & Company Nagpur,
5. Tandon, M.P: Interpretation of Statues, Allahabad Law Agency

LIST OF CASES

1. Aswani Kumar v/s Arbinda Bose

2. Att. General v/s H.R.V. Prince Earnest Augustus of Hanover
3. Bengal Immunity Co. Ltd. v/s State of Bihar
4. Brett v/s Brett
5. Burrakur Coal Company v/s Union of India
6. C Chandler v/s D.P.P
7. Claydan v/s Green
8. C.I.T. v/s Ahmadhi Umarbhai & Co
9. Eton College v/s Minister of Agriculture
10. Fisher v/s Raven
11. Keshavanand v/s State of Kerala
12. K.P. Keswani v/s State of Madras
13. K.P. Varghese v/s Income Tax Officer
14. M Manoharlal v/s State of Punjab
15. Mills v/s Willam
16. Minerva Mills v/s Union of India
17. P. Aisha Potty v/s Returning Officer, Kollar District Panchayat
18. Popat Lal Shah v/s State of Madras
19. R v/s Betes and Russell
20. Re Berubery case
21. Chacko case
22. Salkeld v/s Johnson
23. Shervington v/s Jones
24. Show v/s Ruddin
25. S.P. Gupta v/s President of India
26. Stowell v/s Lord Zouch
27. Vacher v/s London Society of Compositors W Ward v/s Halman
PART-I

A.1) Introduction

The present paper tries to discuss as to how Preamble is an aid to construction. Every
enactment by an authority for governance is a stature. When a question or dispute arises to
any uncertainty in the said statues it is the burden of judiciary to clarify any such
discrepancies and to do this they use aids to construction which helps to construct and clarify
such ambiguity one such aid to construction is preamble often used to uncover the intention
of the legislature and in this paper the researcher will try to study its role as a aid to
construction.
A.2) Hypothesis

Preamble is perfactory statement and it explains purposes, reasons, and motives of statute. As
its role to aid of construction

A.3) Research Objectives

1) To Find and glance upon the role of preamble as an aid to construction

A.4) Research Questions

Whether Preamble is actually a statement which helps explain purposes motives or reasons
of a statute

A.6) Research Methodology

The researcher has relied upon Doctrinal method of research to complete the project.
PART-II

Chapter I- Aids to construction of statues

As characterized in the Black's Law Dictionary, a Statute is a formal composed enactment of

an administrative position that oversees a nation, state, city, or area. Normally, statutes order
or restrict something, or proclaim strategy. The word is frequently used to recognize law
made by administrative bodies from the legal choices of the custom-based law and the
guidelines gave by Government offices. Understanding methods the way toward finding out
the genuine importance of the words utilized in a statute. The object of translation of statutes
is to decide the goal of the legislature passed on explicitly or impliedly in the language
utilized. As expressed by Salmond,”By interpretation or construction is meant, the process by
which the courts seek to ascertain the meaning of the legislature through the medium of
authoritative forms in which it is expressed.”

Legal jurists take the assistance of the two Rules and Aids in the understanding of Statutes.
As expressed by the Supreme Court in K.P. Varghese v. Income Tax Officer, Ernakulam1,
translation of statute being an activity in the ascertainment of importance, all that which is
sensibly significant should be permissible. A Rule is a uniform or sets up a course of things.
There are three principles of translation of statutes-Literal, Golden, and Mischief. an Aid,
then again, is a gadget that helps or helps. With the end goal of development or
understanding, the court needs to take the responsibility for the different inside and outer aids

1)Internal Aids

Internal aids mean those aids which are available in the statute itself, though they may not be
part of enactment. Some Internal Aids are-

1.1)Title of the Statute Long title – Each Statute is going by a long title and it gives the
portrayal about the object of an Act. For example the long title of the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908, is – “An Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the procedure of
the Courts of Civil Judicature.” As of lately, the long title has been utilized by the courts to
decipher certain arrangements of the statutes. In any case, it is valuable just to the degree of
eliminating the equivocalness and disarray and is certifiably not an indisputable aid to
decipher the provision of the statute.

Cases

1. In Re Kerala Education bill2, the Supreme Court held that the “policy and purpose
may be deduced from the long title and the preamble.”

1
AIR 1981 SC 1922
2
1959 1 SCR 995.
 2. In Manohar Lal v. State of Punjab3, “Long title of the Act is relied as a guide to
decide the scope of the Act. Although the title is a part of the Act, it is in itself not an
enacting provision and though useful in case of ambiguity of the enacting provisions, is
ineffective to control their clear meaning.”

1.2)Short Title

The short title of an Act is for the purpose of reference & for its identification. It ends with
the year of passing of the Act. For e.g. Section 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, says
–“This Act may be cited as the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. It shall come into force on the
first day of January, 1909.” Even however a short title is essential for the statute, it doesn't
have any part in the translation of the provisions of an Act.

1.3)Preamble

The fundamental target, main objective, and reason for the Act are found in the Preamble of
the Statute. It is a preliminary assertion and contains the presentations demonstrating the
explanation behind the enactment of the Act. For example, the Preamble of the Indian Penal
Code, 1860, is "Whereas it is expedient to provide a general Penal Code for India; it is
enacted as follows". The preamble is an intrinsic aid in the understanding of a questionable
act. Cases In Kashi Prasad v. Express, the court held that despite the fact that the preamble
can't be utilized to overcome the enacting conditions of a statute, it very well may be treated
as a key for the translation of the statute.

1.4)Headings and Title of a Chapter

Headings give the key to the interpretation and may be treated as preambles to the provisions
following them.

Cases

1. In Krishnaiah v. State of A.P. and Ors4

It was held that headings prefixed to sections can't control the plain expressions of the
provisions. Just on account of vagueness or uncertainty, heading or sub-heading might be
alluded to as an aid in construing provision.

2. In Durga Thathera v. Narain Thathera and Anr5

the court held that the headings resemble a preamble which encourages as a key to the
psyche of the legislature yet don't control the meaningful section of the enactment.

1.5)Marginal Notes

3
1961 AIR 418, 1961 SCR (2) 343.
4
AIR 2005 AP 10, 2004 (2) ALD 794, 2004 (2) ALT 730
5
AIR 1931 All 597, 136 Ind Cas 275.
Marginal notes are put in at the alongside of any sections in an Act and potray the effect of
the sections written.

Cases

in Wilkes v. Goodwin6Banks, LJ, held that the side notes are not an integral part of the Act
and hence marginal notes can never be referred as any type of aid.

1.6)Definitional Sections/ Clauses

The object of a definition is to maintain a strategic distance from the need of continuous
redundancies in depicting the topic to which the word or articulation defined is proposed to
apply. A definition contained in the definition provision of a specific statute, not from some
other statute, should be utilized with the end goal of that Act.

1.7)Illustrations

Illustrations are examples provided by the legislature for better understanding of the statute.
Cases In Mahesh Chandra Sharma v. Raj Kumari Sharma 7, it was held that illustrations
are parts of the Section and help to elucidate the principles of the section.

1.8)Proviso

A proviso is to give instances of a particular case which would somehow or another fall
inside the overall language of the principle enactment. It prohibits, excepts and limits the
utilization of a section and its impact is bound to that case.

Cases

In CIT vs. Ajax Products Ltd.8, it was held that whether a proviso is understood as
limiting the primary provision or as a considerable statement, it can't be separated from the
provision to which it remains as a proviso. It should be understood amicably and construed
harmoniously with the fundamental enactment.

1.9)Explanations

An Explanation is added to a section to expand upon and clarify the importance of the words
showing up in the section. The object isn't to restrict the extent of the primary section yet to
clarify, explain, subtract or incorporate something by elaboration.

1.10)Schedules

6
[1923] 2 KB 86.
7
AIR 1996 SC 869, JT 1995 (8) 466
8
(1964) 55 ITR 741 (SC), 1965 AIR 1358, 1965 SCR (1) 700.
Schedules toward the end contain minute subtleties for working out the provisions of the
express enactment. The articulation in the schedule anyway can't supersede the provisions of
the express enactment.

1.11)Punctuation

Punctuation is a minor element and weight be given to it only when a statute is carefully
punctuated and there is no doubt about its meaning.

2)External Aids

At the point when interior aids are not sufficient, courts need to take responsibility for
external aids. They are valuable instruments for the interpretation or construction of statutory
provisions In B. Prabhakar Rao and others v. State of A.P. and others 9, O. Chennappa
Reddy J. has noticed: "Where inward aids are not approaching, we can generally have a plan
of action to external aids to find the object of the enactment. External aids are not precluded.
This is currently a very much settled guideline of present-day statutory construction.”

Further, in the case of District Mining Officer and others v. Tata Iron & Steel Co. and
another10, the Supreme Court has noticed that it is additionally a cardinal rule of construction
that external aids are gotten by enlarging the idea of setting as including not just other
enacting provisions of the similar statute, however its preamble, the current condition of law,
different statutes in pari materia and the wickedness which the statute was planned to cure.

Some of the External Aids are –

2.1)Parliamentary History, Historical Facts and Surrounding Circumstances

In the event that the phrasings are questionable, the verifiable setting might be considered to
show up at the best possible construction, which covers parliamentary history, chronicled
historical facts, a proclamation, statement of object and reasons, report of an expert
committee.

2.1.a) Parliamentary history implies and includes the incorporates origination of a thought,

drafting of the bill, the discussions made, the amendments proposed, discourse made by
mover of the bill, and so forth Papers put before the cabinet which took the choice for the
presentation of the bill are not applicable since these papers are not set before the parliament.

Cases

9
AIR 1986 SC 120
10
(2001) 7 SCC 358.
1. The Supreme Court in S.R. Chaudhuri v. State of Punjab and others 11 has expressed that
it is a settled position that banters in the Constituent Assembly might be depended upon as an
aid to decipher a Constitutional provision since it is the capacity of the Court to discover the
aim of the designers of the Constitution who framed it.

But as far as speeches in Parliament are concerned, a distinguishment is made between

speeches of the mover of the Bill and speeches of other Members.

2. Regarding speeches made by the Members of the Parliament at the time of consideration of
a Bill, it has been held in K.S. Paripoornan v. State of Kerala and others 12 that they are not
allowable as extraneous aids to the interpretation of the statutory provision. Be that as it may,
addresses made by the mover of the Bill or Minister might be eluded to discover the item
planned to be accomplished by the Bill.

2.1.b) Historical facts of the statute are the external conditions where it was enacted. The
article is to comprehend whether the statute being referred to was expected to modify the law
or leave it where it stood.

2.1.c) Statement of objective and reasons gives why the statute is being brought to
enactment. It is reasonable to allude to it for understanding the foundation, the predecessor
situation, the encompassing conditions comparable to the statute, and the shrewd which the
statute tried to cure.

Cases

But, as held in Devadoss (dead) by L. Rs, v. Veera Makali Amman Koil Athalur13, it
cannot be used to ascertain the true meaning and effect of the substantive provision of the
statute.

2.1.d) Reports of Commissions counting Law Commission or Committees including

Parliamentary Committees going before the presentation of a Bill can likewise be alluded to
in the Court as proof of authentic facts or of encompassing conditions or of mischief,
underhandedness or abhorrent evil proposed to be cured.

Cases

The Supreme Court in Rosy and another v. State of Kerala and others 14 considered Law
Commission of India, 41st Report for interpretation of section 200 (2) of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1898.15

11
(2001) 7 SCC 126.
12
 AIR 1995 SC 1012.
13
AIR 1998 SC 750
14
(2000) 2 SCC 230
15
 R.S. Adukia, Interpretation of Statutes, www.caaa.in (Accessed on Dec. 4th, 2020
2.2)Social, Political and Economic Developments and Scientific Inventions

A Statute should be deciphered to incorporate conditions or circumstances which were

obscure or didn't exist at the hour of enactment of the statute. Any pertinent changes in the
social conditions and innovation should be given due weightage.

Cases

In S.P. Gupta v. Union of India 16, it was held that The interpretation of each statutory
provision should stay up with changing ideas and qualities and it must, to the degree to which
its language grants or rather doesn't preclude, endure changes through legal interpretation to
accord with the necessity of the quick changing society which is going through fast social and
monetary change … It is rudimentary that law doesn't work in a vacuum. It is, subsequently,
planned to fill a social need and it can't be deciphered without considering the social,
financial, and political setting in which it is expected to work. It is here that the Judge is
called upon to play out an innovative capacity. He needs to infuse fragile living creature and
blood in the dry skeleton gave by the legislature and by a cycle of dynamic interpretation,
contribute it with a significance which will orchestrate the law with the predominant ideas
and qualities and make it a compelling instrument for conveyance of equity.

Thusly, court needs to consider social, political and financial turns of events and logical
developments which occur after enactment of a statute for legitimate construction of its
provision.

2.3) Reference to Other Statutes

With the end goal of interpretation or construction of a statutory provision, courts can allude
to or can take the assistance of different statutes. It is otherwise called statutory aids. For
example the General Clauses Act, 1897. The utilization of this standard assisted with
maintaining a strategic distance from any inconsistency between a progression of statutes
managing a similar subject as it permits the utilization of a prior statute to illuminate the
importance of an expression utilized in a later statute in a similar setting.

2.4) Dictionaries

At the point when a word isn't defined in the statute itself, it is admissible to allude to word
references to discover the overall sense in which that word is perceived in like manner
speech. For example Black's Law Dictionary.

2.5) Judicial Decisions

Decisions by courts in a similar way act as points of reference for the interpretation of
statutes. Indian legal proclamations may have restricting worth when given by a higher court
and have powerful worth when given by a court having the equivalent or lower authority.

16
AIR 1982 SC 149
These foreign decisions from nations following a similar arrangement of law have powerful
worth just and can't be utilized to repudiate restricting Indian judgements.

2.6) Other materials

Courts also refer passages and materials from eminent text books, articles and papers
published in journals.

Cases

The Supreme Court used information available on internet for the purpose of interpretation of
statutory provision in Ramlal v. State of Rajasthan17these are the various Aids of
Interpretation of statutes.

17
(2001) 1 SCC 175.
Chapter II - PREAMBLE AS AN AID TO CONSTRUCTION

This means the Preamble of an enactment like the long title is a piece of the statute. Yet, it all
the more extensively and completely signifies the degree, item, and motivation behind the
Act than the long title. The preamble is in the idea of a prefatory assertion, setting out the
explanation, rationale, and article which are tried to be accomplished by the enactment. The
preamble has the capacity to communicate certain facts. Seeing the preamble of the Indian
Constitution it is effectively open the rationale and object of the establishing fathers that they
needed to make India into a "Sovereign Socialist Secular, Democratic Republic.‟ They
needed to make sure about justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity for each /citizen of the
country.

(i) Importance of preamble

The preamble of a statute isn't an enactment yet a simple presentation of the aim of its makers
and the mischiefs to be cured and it very well might be considered as a key to the
construction of the statute at whatever point the enacting part is available to question:
however it can't confine or broaden the enacting part when the last is liberated from the
question.18

(ii) Utility of preamble

The assistance from the preamble can be taken when the appropriate response is in certain
sense. It has the capacity to clarify the specific fact. It has been unequivocally seen that if the
language of an enactment is clear and unambiguous, the preamble has no part to play in
interpretation. Yet, in the event that more than one interpretation is conceivable of a specific
provision, help can be taken from the preamble of the Act to discover its actual significance.19

In the case of Mills v/s William,20 Lord Hold held that “preamble is not the part of the
statute” but Lord Coke said that “preamble is a key to open the mind of the framer."

In case of Stowell v/s Lord Zuoch,21 Justice Dier observed that preamble is the key to open
the mind of the makers of the act and the mischief, they intended to suppress.

In Brett v/s Brett,22 the expressions of SIR JOHN NICHOLL that It is to the preamble all the
more uncommonly that we are to search for the explanation or soul of each statute, practicing
this, as it customary does, the malicious tried to be helped, or the questions suspected to be
18
Veepa p sarthi interpretation of statues p.250
19
Bhattacharyya, T: op.cit., p. 161
20
Mills v/s William, 87 Okla. 190
21
Stowell v/s Lord Zouch , plowden 359
22
(1826) 162 ER 456, pp. 458, 459.
eliminated by the statute, thus confirming, in the best and most satisfactory way, the item or
the goal of the legislature in making or passing the statute itself.

In Re Berubari23 case, it is said that the preamble is the part of the statute.

(iii) Case laws

In the case of Att. Gen. v/s H.R.V. Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover 24 Lord Normand
said thatwhen there is a preamble it is commonly in its presentations that the wickedness to
be cured and the extent of the Act are portrayed. It is, consequently, unmistakably admissible
to have a response to it as an aid to construing the enacting provisions. The preamble isn't, be
that as it may, of a similar load as an aid to construction of a section of the Act as are other
pertinent enacting words to be discovered somewhere else in the Act or even in related Acts.
There might be no exact correspondence between preamble and enactment, and the
enactment may go past, or it might miss the mark regarding the signs that might be
accumulated from the preamble. Again the preamble can't be of a lot or any help with
construing provisions that exemplify capabilities or special cases from the activity of the
universally useful of the Act. It is just when it passes on an unmistakable and positive
importance in comparison with generally dark or inconclusive enacting words that the
preamble may honestly win. The courts are worried about the practical business of choosing
him, and when the offended party advances one construction of an enactment and the litigant
another, it is the court's business regardless of some trouble, subsequent to educating itself
regarding what I have called the lawful and factual setting including the preamble, to
consider in the light of this information whether the enacting words concede to both the
opponent construction set forward. On the off chance that they concede to just a single
construction, that construction will get impact regardless of whether it is inconsistence with
the preamble, yet on the off chance that the enacting words are prepared to do both of the
constructions offered by the gatherings, the construction which fit the preamble might be
liked. Eton College v/s Minister of Agriculture 25 was a case in which the enacting words
were unambiguous and so could not be controlled by the preamble. In case of K.P. Keswani
v/s State of Madras26 it has been held by the court that preamble legitimately refer to remove
any ambiguity, to fixed the meaning of the words which may have more than meaning. The
majority judgement in Keshavanand27 and Minerva Mills28 strongly relied upon the
preamble in reaching the conclusion that the power of amendment conferred by Article 368
was limited and did not enable parliament to alter the basic structure of framework of the
constitution. In M\S Burrakur Coal Company v/s Union of India 29, the Apex Court was
needed to decipher Section 4(1) of the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development)
Act, 1957 as per which (at whatever point it appears to the Central Government that coal is

23
AIR 1960 SC 845, 1960 3 SCR 250
24
[1987] A.C. 436
25
[1964] ch. 274.
26
K.P. Keswani v/s State of Madras
27
AIR 1973 SC 1461
28
AIR 1980 SC 1789
29
AIR 1961 SC 954
probably going to be kept from land in any territory, it very well might be noticed in the
official journal, pull out of its aim to prospect for coal in that: The preamble of this Act,
nonetheless, peruses, freely as An Act to build up in the financial premium of India more
noteworthy public power over the coal mining industry and its advancement accommodating
the securing by the State of „unworked land‟ containing or prone to contain coal stores or of
rights in or over such land for the extinguishment or alteration of such rights accumulating by
temperance of any arrangement, rent, permit or something else, and for issues associated
therewith. It was contended that based on section 4(1) obtaining of just virgin land could be
started taking into account the utilization of the words „unworked land‟ containing or prone
to contain coal stores or of rights in or over such land for extinguishment or alteration of such
rights building by prudence of any arrangement, rent, permit or something else, and for the
issue associated therewith. It was contended that based on section 4(1) procurement of just
virgin land could be started taking into account the utilization of the word „unworked land‟
in the preamble couldn't be taken to contort the away from of the legislature discovered from
the unambiguous language of the provision. Thusly, the provision enables the public
authority to give notice demonstrating its goal to prospect any land including virgin land.
PART IV- Conclusion

The preamble of a statute is a prefactory statement and it also explains the purpose, reason
and motive of the statute. It can be said that preamble is the key which opens the mind of the
legislature. The utility of the preamble diminishes on a conclusion as to clarity of enacting
provision.

In Re Chacko case, the following principles are held by the courts the principles are:

(1) The purpose of preamble to indicate in general the object of the legislature.

(2) It cannot invoke to determine the well acquainted Act.

(3) If the enacting words of the statutes are play enough, the preamble cannot limit the
enactment.

(4) In case of the unambiguous this principle cannot be utilized.

(5) General term of preamble does not indicate all the mischief which are to be found in the
enacting provision, than the enacting provision rule over the preamble.

(6) Where it is clear that the enactment used very general language intend to clear the scope
then the preamble cannot be used.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bhattacharyya, P: The Interpretation of Statutes, Central Law Agency,

Langan, P. St. J: Maxwell on the Interpretation of Statutes, Lexis Nexis,

Sarathi, P. Vepa: Interpretation of Statutes, Eastern Book Company,

Singh, G.P: Principle of Statutory Interpretation, Wadha & Company Nagpur,

Tandon, M.P: Interpretation of Statues, Allahabad Law Agency

http://lawtimesjournal.in/aids-to-interpretation-of-statutes/#_ftn22

https://blog.ipleaders.in/internal-aids-to-construction/#:~:text=of%20the
%20statute.-,Preamble,any%20provision%20of%20that%20statute.

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-2713-interpretation-of-statutes-a-complete-
study-to-an-aids-to-interpretation.html

https://thefactfactor.com/interpretation-of-statutes/the-preamble/14095/