BASIC GUIDELINES IN THE

CONSTRUCTION AND
INTERPRETATION OF LAWS
 Legislative Intent
• The object of all interpretation and
construction of statutes is to ascertain the
meaning and intention of the legislative, to
the end that same may be enforced.

• Legislative intent is determined principally

from the language of the statute.
 Statutes as a whole
• A cardinal rule in statutory construction is
that legislative intent must be ascertained
from a consideration of the statute as a
whole and not merely of a particular
provision. A word or phrase might easily
convey a meaning which is different from the
one actually intended.
 Statutes as a whole
• A statute should be construed as a
whole because it is not to be
presumed that the legislature has
used any useless words, and because
it is dangerous practice to base the
construction upon only a part of it,
since one portion may be qualified
by other portions.