(5) Effect of Usage &

Practice: Contemporanea
Exposito
Contemporanea Exposito Est
Fortissima In Lege
‘contemporaneous
exposition is the best
and strongest in
law’.

Words of a statute will

generally be understood
in the sense which they
bore when it was passed.

Principle particularly
applied to interpret
ancient statutes
The usage of the rule for the first
time
The significance of the doctrine

For construing an old

statute, the construction The doctrine not
to be put upon them by
the judges who lived ‘at’ applicable to
or ‘soon after’ the time modern statutes
when they were made.
 Effect of the Principle
Uniform & arising out of
consistent construction of an
practice ambiguous statute

by the highest
executive
officers

at or near the and continuing

time of the for a long period
enactment of time

is an admissible
The Controlling Effect of the Aid
Executive
Construction would
depend upon

Approval that it has

received in judicial
decisions &
legislations

Injustice Length of time

resulting from for which it was
its departure followed

Nature of rights
& property
affected by it
Weight of this Aid to Construction

Persuasive Value

It may be
It is not
disregarded in
decisive or
a clear case of
controlling
error
(6) Dictionaries
 Dictionaries When words not
may be defined in an
consulted Act

To find out the

meaning in a
common parlance

They cannot be relied Statutes in pari

upon when there is materia given
an express provision more importance
(7) USE OF FOREIGN
DECISIONS
“statutory construction
‘must’ be home-spun even if
hospitable to alien
thinking”.
 of the countries Subject to the qualification
Sobered use
following the same that prime importance is
permitted system of jurisprudence given to Indian statutes
 FOREIGN DECISIONS
If an Indian Act is mode lle d on a pr ior
English Ac t , dec isions c onst r uing the
provisions of t he English Ac t c an be
he lpf ul guide f or constr uing
c or re sponding provisions of t he Indian
Ac t .

Apar
t
from
the
com
mon
law
tradi
tions,
the
use
of
Engli
sh
langu
age
as
auth
orita
tive
text
of
Engli
sh
statu
tes,
also
oblig
es
the
India
n
court
s to
take
recou
rse to
forei
gn
decis
ions.
 For example
B.Sudhakaran v. State of Ramavatar Budhaiprasad v.
Kerala (2010) 10 SCC 582 Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Akola
• The Supreme Court • To construe the word
referred to M’Naughten’s ‘vegetable’ in a taxing
case (1843) 8 ER 718 for statute, reference was
interpreting and applying made to a Canadian
the defence of insanity in decision interpreting that
section 84 of the Penal word in a similar statute.
Code which is modeled
on the English Law.
Another example…concept of
Reasonable Man…
R v. Kiranjeet Ahluwalia
 Also….in a Malaysian case…
• “It is quite clear that the law of Malaysia has to be taken
from the Code and not from cases on the common law.
But when, as here, the Code is embodying common law
principles, decisions of the courts of England and other
Commonwealth countries in which the common law has
been expounded can be helpful in the understanding and
application of the Code.”
Shaaban Bin Hussein v. Chang Fook Kam
 However, the courts may
also refuse such application
of foreign decisions owing to
different conditions
prevailing in India…
M.V. Elisabeth v. Harwan Investment & Trading
Pvt. Ltd. AIR 1993 SC 1014
Indian Law

English Law
Damage to a ship

Damage to ship- no other

meaning given
Damage caused to a cargo in ship, as no legislation dealing with cargo

For cargo, there is another

legislation