Interpretation of Statutes

Anant Faujdar
Assistant Professor
School of Law
Lovely Professional University
 Why do we need to Interpret?
• Law is enacted by the legislature with a definite
purpose in mind.
• That purpose is reflected in the language used by
the legislature.
• The courts are supposed to administer justice
according to the law and therefore they need to
understand the true meaning of the language
used by the legislature.
• the judges have to determine the true meaning
of the words used by the legislature. This process
is called interpretation.
 Meaning of Interpretation
• Interpretation is the process of determining the
true meaning of language used by the legislature
• The object of interpretation is to discover what
the legislature intended. If the words are clear
and precise, they themselves express the
intention. But where a word bears more than one
meaning, the language of the statute may give
out several senses.in such a case it becomes
necessary to ascertain the meaning of the word.
• T.N Electricity Board v Status Spg. Mills Ltd.
[AIR 2008 SC 2838]

In this case the Apex Court observed that the

court has the last say in Interpretation of
Statutes.
 Question?
• Can interpretation be used to create law?
• Can Interpretation give new meaning to the
existing Law?
• Can the judges while interpreting a law, arrive
at a ‘supposed intention?’
• NO.
• Interpretation is done only when the language
of the statute is ambiguous. The Judges can
not create new law while doing the
interpretation. Their job is to find out the true
meaning of the language used by the
legislature. The discretion is limited. Its not
absolute.
 Ambiguity
• It means uncertainty.
• If a word is ambiguous , it means it is capable
of bearing more than one meaning.
• In such cases there is a dire need of
interpretation.
• Ambiguity can be Latent or Patent.
 Latent Ambiguity
• Latent means Hidden or cocealed. Such
ambiguity is not apparent in the language
used in the statute.
• For eg.- In a Will a testator may say, ‘I
bequeath Rs. One lac to my cousin named X.’
• The language is apparently free from
ambiguity. But of the testator has two cousins
of identical name X, the uncertainty creeps in
as to which cousin is intended.
 Patent Ambiguity
• It means obvious .
• This kind of ambiguity is apparent on the face of
the instrument.
• For eg- a testator bequeaths Rs. one lac to his
aunt Y and Rs. one lac to his cousin Z. he has no
aunt of the name Y. Afterwards he bequeaths Rs.
Two lacs to his before mentioned aunt Y.
• Now the question is whom he refers to by stating
‘before mentioned aunt Y’ ????