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Interpretation of statutes: A complete study to an aids to interpretation
By Rashi Choudhary

What is interpretation of statutes?

Interpretation is the process which is employed by the judiciary to ascertain or to determine the
meaning of the statutes or legal provision. It is basically a process by which court seeks to
ascertain the true meaning of the expression or word or phrase which is in question in any
statute before the court and determine the true intention of the legislature behind such statutory
provision.
A process of interpretation employed by the judiciary can be done through various tools or
principles of statutory interpretation which include seeking help from internal or external aids
to interpretation and applying primary or secondary rule of interpretation which has evolved
over a period of time by the court.
According to Salmond:
Interpretation and construction is the process by which the court seek to ascertain the meaning
of the legislature through the medium of authoritative forms in which it is expressed.

According to Blackstone:
The most fair and rational method for interpreting a statute is by exploring the intention of the
legislature through texts, the subject matter, the effect and consequences or the spirit and reason
of law.

What is construction of statutes?

Construction, in strict sense, is the process by which the court assign the meaning to the
ambiguous provision which is beyond the letter of law for the purpose to resolve the inconsistency.
The judges after taking into consideration the factual circumstances before the court give a
particular meaning to the expression or word or phrase in question. Although, such meaning must
be within the ambit of the objective of statute and could not be directly explained by the statute.
The word interpretation and construction are used interchangeably but there is thin line of
difference between both the concepts.

According to Cooley, Interpretation is the art of finding out the true sense of any form of words
and enabling others to drive from them the same meaning which the author intended to convey,
whereas, construction is the process of drawing conclusions, respecting subjects that lie beyond
the direct expression of the text, which are in the spirit though not within the letter of law.

Basically, interpretation is a process of discovering, from permissible data, the meaning and
intension of the legislature and if interpretation discloses clear meaning and intention of the
legislature it will be directly applied to factual circumstances but if interpretation doesn't disclose
clearly the meaning in context of factual circumstances, then construction will undergoes to seek
to assign meaning or intention to the words used by the legislature. It is clearly drawn that
construction is more concerned with applying the meaning to the factual circumstances than mere
ascertaining the meaning of the words of provision.

Tabular difference between interpretation and construction

Interpretation Construction
It is the process by which court assign the
It is the process adopted by the court to
meaning to the ambiguous provision which
1 determine the true meaning of the legislative
is beyond the letter of law for the purpose
provision.
to resolve the inconsistency.
By construction one can find out the way
By interpretation one can find out the true
2 to apply the meaning to the factual
sense of any form of words in statue.
circumstances before court.
Interpretation enables the linguistic meaning of Construction is more concerned in
3
the legal text. enabling conclusion to the situation.

Need for interpretation

1. The ambiguity of the words used in the statute: Sometimes there will
be words that have more than one meaning. And it may not be clear
which meaning has to be used. There could be multiple interpretations
made out of it.
2. Change in the environment: We all know that society changes from
time to time and there may be new developments happening in a
society that is not taken into consideration, this lacks the
predictability of the future event.
3. Complexities of the statutes: usually statutes are complex and huge,
it contains complicated words, jargon and some technical terms which
are not easy to understand and this complexity may lead to confusion.
4. When legislation doesn’t cover a specific area: Every time when
legislations are out it doesn’t cover all the area it leaves some grey
areas and interpretation helps in bridging the gaps between.
5. Drafting error: The draft may be made without sufficient knowledge
of the subject. It may also happen due to the lack of necessary words
and correct grammar. This makes the draft unclear and creates
ambiguity in the legislature.
6. Incomplete rules: There are few implied rules and regulations and
some implied powers and privileges which are not mentioned in the
statute and when these are not defined properly in the statute this
leads to ambiguity.