INTERPRETATION OF

STATUTES
• 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.[1]

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
2. 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.[3]
• 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.[4] 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.
 Interpretation Construction

It is the process by which court assign the meaning

It is the process adopted by the court to determine the to the ambiguous provision which is beyond the
1
true meaning of the legislative provision. letter of law for the purpose to resolve the
inconsistency.

By construction one can find out the way to apply

By interpretation one can find out the true sense of any
2 the meaning to the factual circumstances before
form of words in statue.�
court.

Interpretation enables the linguistic meaning of the legal Construction is more concerned in enabling
3
text. conclusion to the situation.
Summary and Analysis of John Rawls’ and
Robert Nozick’s Thoughts on Justice
• John Rawls’ liberal philosophy on laws and social institutions describes them
as, in their nature, being justice seeking.
• He speaks of justice as a principle based on fairness, thus rejecting the
utilitarian idea of the greater good.
• He goes on to define society as a closed system of persons with general
agreement on a set of rules that are designed to produce a furtherance or
betterment of the society through cooperative interaction.
• If this cooperation results in a societal improvement, then the subject of justice
must be introduced to handle the fair distribution of or access to the betterment.
• For Rawls, justice is not arbitrary, prejudiced, or preferential. He feels that from
the original position, or natural state of man, all members of society are equal.
Summary and Analysis of John Rawls’ and
Robert Nozick’s Thoughts on Justice
• Justice, in this framework, finds itself concerned with the relative scarcity
of goods and man’s propensity to prefer self-advantage.
• In practice, Rawls’ justice ensures that all members share the same freedoms
and that holding advantageous office or position is a prospect open to all.
• From the springboard of the original position, he employs a hypothetical
tool, the veil of ignorance.
• Rawls posits that the only way that persons can formulate laws that are fair
is to be devoid of any knowledge of their individual characteristics
• This policy restricts the introduction of personal advantage. Being blind to
one’s situation promotes the generation of laws or institutions that will not
benefit one man over another.
Robert Nozick’s libertarian, entitlement
theory of distributive justice
• He presents a radical departure from the more hypothetical ideas of John Rawls.
• It is a decidedly historical, practical approach to defining the role of justice. Nozick was an advocate for the
minimal state.
• He would think that any state that takes on more than the defense of its people causes injury to personal
freedom.
• It is the acquisition and transfer of goods that is the concern of his theory of distributive justice.
• He argues that if the principles of justice are observed when acquiring holdings, then the acquisition of the
holding is just and entitled.
• For instance, if an item is unheld, and one acquires it, then it is a just acquisition.
• He also states that held items may be the subject of just transfer between people by means of trade or service.
• If one follows his inductive argument implicitly, then it holds that the natural distribution of holdings would
be just.
• Further, he states that the resulting situation, being just, has no need for manipulation by any state.
Robert Nozick’s libertarian, entitlement
theory of distributive justice
• He also does a precursory explanation of the rectification of injustice in holdings,
should the principles of the original acquisition of holdings, or the transfer of holdings
be violated.
• Nozick compares his historical, entitlement distribution of goods against “current
time-slice” principles of distribution.
• He cites welfare economics as an example, a seeking of a fair “end-result” distribution.
• He finds looking at only our current situation to be unjust.
• Perhaps disadvantaged persons are getting their just desserts.
• To preserve justice in Nozick’s eyes, one must look at the whole historical accounting
of things.
Robert Nozick’s libertarian, entitlement
theory of distributive justice
• Nozick also discusses that there are patterns in distribution that can arise either justly,
by following his principles regarding just holdings, or by the intentional impression of
a distributive matrix by a state.
• He describes the fall of a hypothetical socialist state that occurs when one person
engages in capitalist acts, earning such money that others would leave the socialist
industry to engage in private enterprise as well.
• This circumstance would mandate that the socialist state ban capitalist commerce in
the name of self-preservation.
• It is this engaging of a role by the state other than the defense of its people that is of
paramount concern to Nozick.
• The takeaway is that no distribution of holdings other than a natural distribution that
occurs by preserving justice in acquisition and transfer can be just.
• Also, it follows, that any action by a state to redistribute holdings to which people
Aids to interpretation of statutes
• An Aid is considered as a tool or device which helps in interpreting a statute, the court can take help
from internal aids to interpretation (i.e. within statutes) or external aids to interpretation (i.e. outside the
statutes)
Internal aids to interpretation
Internal aids means those aids which are available in the statute itself, court can interpret the statute by
employing such aids which are as follows:
1. Title of the statute
There are basically two types of title-

i. Short Title

The short title of the Act is only its name which is given solely for the purpose of reference and
identification.
Short title is mention under Section 1 of the Acts and ends with the year of passing of the Act.

Example- Section 1 of CPC says, This Act may be cited as Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.' Section 1
of Indian contract Acts says, This Act may be called as Indian Contract Act, 1872.
Long Title
I. I. A statute is headed by a long title whose purpose is to give a general description about the object of the act. Normally, it
begins with the words An Act to…
EXAMPLE - the long title of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 says: An Act to consolidate and amend
the law relating to criminal procedure, and that of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 says: ‘An Act to consolidate and
amend the law relating to the prevention of corruption and matters connected therewith’.
II. There has been a change in the thinking of courts in recent times and there are numerous occasions when help has been
taken from the long title to interpret certain provisions of the statute but only to the extent of removing confusions and
ambiguities. If the words in a statute are unambiguous, no help is derived from the long title.
III. In Poppatlal Shah v. State of Madras, AIR 1953 SC 274- the title of the Madras General Sales Tax, 1939, was utilised to
indicate that the object of the Act is to impose taxes on sales that take place within the province.
IV. In the case of Amarendra Kumar Mohapatra v. State of Orissa AIR 2014 SC 1716- the Court has held that the title of a
statute determines the general scope of the legislation, but the true nature of any such enactment has always to be
determined not on the basis of the label given to it but on the basis of its substance.
 Long Title
• In Manoharlal v. State of Punjab AIR 1961 SC 418- it was held that no doubt the long title of the Act extracted by
the appellant’s counsel indicates the main purposes of the enactment but it cannot control the express operative
provisions of the Act.
• In Fisher v. Raven 1964 AC 210 (HL) Interpretation of the words ‘obtained credit’ in Section 13(1) of the Debtor’s
Act, 1869 was involved. The House of Lords looked at the long title of the Act which reads ‘An Act for the
Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt, for the punishment of fraudulent debtors, and for other purposes’ and held
that the words refer to credit for the payment of money.
• Limitations of Title as Internal Aid to Construction
• Title has no role to play where the words employed in the language are plain and precise and bear only one
meaning.
I. Title can be called in aid only when there is an ambiguity in the language giving rise to alternative construction.
II. Title cannot prevail over the clear meaning of an enactment.
III. Title cannot be used to narrow down or restrict the plain meaning of the language of the statute.
Preamble
• The Preamble to the Act contains the aims and objectives sought to be achieved, and is
therefore, part of the Act.
• It is a key to unlock the mind of the law makers.
• Therefore, in case of any ambiguity or uncertainty, the preamble can be used by the courts
to interpret any provision of that statute. But there is a caution here.
• The apex court has held in Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic Vishwavidyalaya v. State of
M.P. AIR (2013) 15 SCC 677– the court cannot have resort to preamble when the language
of the statute is clear and unambiguous.
• Similarly it has been held that help from preamble could not be taken to distort clear intention
of the legislature– Burrakar Coal Company v. Union of India AIR 1961 SC 954.
• In re Kerala Education Bill, 1957, it was observed that the policy and purpose of the Act
can be legitimately derived from its preamble.
• In Global Energy Ltd. v. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission– it was held that the
object of legislation should be read in the context of the Preamble.
Preamble
• Another important example is found in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, AIR 1973
SC 1461– wherein the apex court strongly relied on the Preamble to the Constitution of India in
reaching a conclusion that the power of the Parliament to amend the constitution under Article
368 was not unlimited and did not enable the Parliament to alter the Basic Structure of the
Constitution.
• In A.C. Sharma v. Delhi Administration AIR 1973 SC 913
• In this case, the appellant challenged his conviction under Section 5 of the Prevention of
Corruption Act, 1947.
• His main ground was that after the establishment of the Delhi Special Police Establishment, the
anti-corruption department of the Delhi Police has ceased to have power of investigating
bribery cases because the preamble of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 pointed
out to this effect.
• The court, however, held that no preamble can interfere with clear and unambiguous words of a
statue.
• Section 3 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment, 1946 empowered the Delhi Special Police
also to investigate such cases.
Preamble
• In Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh v. NTC (South Maharashtra), the Supreme
Court while interpreting certain provisions of the Textile Undertakings (Take over
of Management) Act, 1983 held that when the language of the Act is clear,
preamble cannot be invoked to curtail or restrict the scope of an enactment.
•
Limitations of Preamble as Internal Aid to Construction
•
Preamble can be resorted to only when the language of a provision is reasonably
capable of alternative construction.
• Preamble cannot either restrict or extend the meaning and scope of the words used
in the enacting part.
• In case of conflict between Preamble and a section, the preamble would succumb
and section shall prevail.
• Preamble cannot be regarded as source of any substantive power or of any
Marginal Notes
•
Marginal notes are inserted at the side of the sections in an act which express the effect of the section
but they are not part of statute.
They are also known as Side notes and are inserted by drafters and not legislators.

The rule of interpretation is that in olden times a help is used to be taken from marginal notes when the
clear meaning of the provision is in doubt
• but as per modern view of the court, marginal notes doesn't have any role to play because either they
are inserted by legislators nor does they form the part of the statute.
However, for interpreting constitution many times marginal notes are referred because they are made
by constituent assembly.

Bengal Immunity Company v. State of Bihar [6], the Supreme Court held that the marginal notes of
Article 286 is the part of the Constitution of India which talks about Restrictions as to imposition of
the tax on the sale or purchase of goods therefore, it could be relied on to furnish a clue to the
purpose and meaning of the article.

• In Tara Prasad Singh v. Union of India, it was held that marginal notes to a section of the
 Marginal Notes
• In Union of India v. Dileep Kumar Singh AIR 2015 SC 1420 – the apex court held that marginal note appended to
Section 47 of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1955 makes
it clear that idea of section 47 was not to discriminate against employees who acquire disability during service.
•
In S.P. Gupta v. President of India The Supreme Court held that if the relevant provisions in the body of a statute firmly
point towards a construction which would conflict with the marginal note, the marginal note has to yield.
• If there is any ambiguity in the meaning of the provisions in the body of the statute, the marginal note may be looked into
as an aid to construction.

•
Limitations of Marginal Notes as Internal Aid to Construction
•
Marginal notes are very rarely used for interpretation as they are not considered to be a good aid to construction.
• Only those marginal notes can be used for construing a provision which have been inserted with assent of the legislature.
• Marginal notes can be called in aid only when language suffers from ambiguity and more than one construction is
possible.
• Marginal notes cannot frustrate the effect of a clear provision
Marginal Notes

• In all modern statutes, generally headings are attached to almost each section, just
preceding the provisions. For example, the heading of Section 437 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 is “When bail may be taken in case of non- bailable offence”.
•
Headings are not passed by the Legislature but they are subsequently inserted after the Bill
has become law.
•
Headings are of two kinds- one which are prefixed to a section and the other which are
prefixed to a group or set of sections. These headings have been treated by courts as
preambles to those sections or set of sections.
•
Naturally, the rules applicable to the preamble are followed in case of headings also while
interpreting an enactment. Therefore, if the plain meaning of enactment is clear, help from
headings cannot be taken by the courts.
•
However, if more than one conclusion are possible while interpreting a particular provision,
the courts may seek guidance from the headings to arrive at the true meaning.
HEADING

• A heading to one set of sections cannot act as an aid to interpret another set of
sections– Shelly v. London County Council, 1949 AC 56
•
But chapter heading can be used to interpret ambiguous provisions– Bullmer v. I.R.C.
•
In Sarah Mathew v. Institute of Cardio Vascular Diseases, it was held that sectional
headings have a limited role to play in the construction of statutes. The heading of Ch. XXXVI,
Cr.P.C. is not an indicator that the date of taking cognizance is the date on which limitation
period commences.
•
In Novartis Ag. v. Union of India, the sectional headings were relied on while interpreting
Section 5, 3(d), 2(1) (j) and (ja) and 83 of the Patents Act, 1970.
•
In Union of India v. ABN Amro Bank
• It was held that the heading of a section can be regarded as key to interpretation of the
operative portion of said section.
• If there is no ambiguity in the language of the provision or if it is plain and clear, then heading
HEADING

• In N.C. Dhoundial v. Union of India, it was held that

“Heading” can be relied upon to clear the doubt or ambiguity in
the interpretation of the provision and to discern the legislative
intent.
Limitations of Headings as Internal Aid to Construction
• Headings can neither cut down nor extend the plain meaning
and scope of the words used in the enacting part.
•
Headings cannot control the clear and plain meaning of the
words of an enactment.
Illustrations
• Illustrations are sometimes appended to a section of a statute with a view to
illustrate the provision of law explained therein. A very large number of Indian
Acts have illustrations appended to various sections.
• They being the show of mind of the legislature are a good guide to find out the
intention of the farmers. But an enactment otherwise clear cannot be given an
extended or a restricted meaning on the basis of illustrations appended therein.
• The Supreme Court in Mahesh Chand Sharma v. Raj Kumari
Sharma observed that illustration is a part of the section and it helps to elucidate
the principle of the section.
• However, illustrations cannot be used to defeat the provision or to modify the
language of the section. This is reflected by a legal maxim “Exampla illustrant,
non-restringent legem” which means examples only illustrate but do not narrow
the scope of rule of a law.
Illustrations

• In Mudliyar Chatterjee v. International Film Co., it

was observed that in construing a section, an
illustration cannot be ignored or brushed aside.

• In Mohommed Sydeol Ariffin v. Yeah Ooi Gark, it

was held that the illustrations are of relevance and
value in the construction of the text of the section,
although they donot form part of the section. Therefore,
they should not be readily rejected as repugnant to the
sections.
Exceptions and Saving Clauses
• Exceptions are generally added to an enactment with the purpose of exempting
something which would otherwise fall within the ambit of the main provision.
• For instance, there are ten exceptions attached to section 499, IPC which defines
‘Defamation’. These ten exceptions are the cases which do not amount to
defamation.
• Similarly there are five exceptions attached to section 300 of the Indian Penal
Code which defines ‘murder’. These five exceptions are the cases which are not
murders but culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
• An exception affirms that the things not exempted are covered under the main
provision.
• In case a repugnancy between an operative part and an exception, the operative
part must be relied on.
Exceptions and Saving Clauses
• some decisions have, however, been given on the principle that an exception, being the
latter will of the legislature, must prevail over the substantive portion of the
enactment.
• In Director of Secondary Education v. Pushpendra Kumar, the Supreme Court held
that a provision in the nature of an exception cannot be so interpreted as to subserve
the main enactment and thereby nullify, the right conferred by the main enactment.
• In Collector of Customs v. M/s. Modi Rubber Limited, the Supreme Court held that
whenever there is a provision in the nature of an exception to the principal clause
thereof; it must be construed with regard to that principal clause.
• Saving clauses are generally appended in cases of repeal and re-enactment of a
statute.
• By this the rights already created under repealed enactment are not disturbed nor new
rights are created by it. A saving clause is normally inserted in the repealing statute.
Exceptions and Saving Clauses
• In case of a clash between the main part of statute and a saving clause, the
saving clause has to be rejected.
• In Shah Bhojraj Kuverji Oil Mills v. Subhash Chandra Yograj Sinha, the
Supreme Court did not allow the use of a saving clause, which was enacted like
a proviso, to determine whether a section in an Act was retrospective in
operation.
• In Agricultural and Processed Food Products v. Union of India, the
Supreme Court while interpreting the saving clause in the Export Control
Order, 1988 held that the clause only saved the rights which were in existence
before the order was issued and it did not confer any new rights which were not
in existence at that time.
Schedules
• Schedules attached to an Act generally deals with as to how claims or rights
under the Act are to be asserted or as to how powers conferred under the Act are
to be exercised. The Schedules are appended towards the end of the enactment.
• Sometimes, a schedule may contain some subjects in the form of a list as is the
case with the Constitution of India to enable the Union and the states to legislate
in their respective fields.
• Schedules are parts of the Statute itself and may be looked into by the courts for
the purpose of interpreting the main body of the statute.
• Similarly, while interpreting the schedules help may always be taken from the
main body of the Act to find out the true spirit of the Act.
Exceptions and Saving Clauses
• Sometimes, a schedule may contain transitory provisions also to enable an Act
to remain in existence till the main provisions of the Act begin to operate, such
as the Ninth Schedule of the Government of India Act, 1935.
• In M/s. Aphali Pharmaceuticals Limited v. State of Maharashtra, the
Supreme Court held that in case of a clash between the schedule and the main
body of an Act, the main body prevails and the schedule has to be rejected.
• In Jagdish Prasad v. State of Rajasthan and others, the Supreme Court ruled
that the purpose of a schedule is to advance the object of the main provision and
deletion of schedule cannot wipe out provisions of an Act in effect and spirit.
Punctuation
• In ancient times, statutes were passed without punctuation and naturally, therefore, the
courts were not concerned with looking at punctuation.
• But in modern times statutes contain punctuation. Therefore, whenever a matter comes
before the courts for interpretation, the courts first look at the provision as they are
punctuated and if they feel that there is no ambiguity while interpreting the punctuated
provision, they shall so interpret it.
• However, while interpreting the provision in the punctuated form if the court feels
repugnancy or ambiguity, the court shall read the whole provision without any
punctuation and if the meaning is clear will so interpret it without attaching any
importance whatsoever to the punctuation.
• In Aswini Kumar v. Arabinda Bose, the Supreme Court held that a punctuation cannot
be regarded as a controlling element and cannot be allowed to control the plain meaning
of a text.
• Therefore, in Shambhu Nath Sarkar v. State of West Bengal, the Supreme court held
that the word ‘which’ used twice in Article 22(7) of the Constitution, followed by a
comma after each, was to be read conjunctively because the context so required.
 Punctuation
• In Mohammad Shabbir v. State of Maharashtra
• Interpretation of Section 27 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 was in question.
• This provision says that whoever ‘manufactures for sale, sells, stocks or exhibits for sale or distributes’ a drug without
licence would be liable to punishment.
• The Supreme Court held that mere stocking of a drug is not an offence and an offence is made out only when stocking is
for sale.
• There is no comma after the word ‘stocks’ which means that the words ‘stocks or exhibits’ are both qualified by the words
‘for sale’ used thereafter.
• In Dadaji v. Sukhdeobabu, the Supreme Court held that the punctuation marks by themselves do not control the meaning
of a statute where its meaning is otherwise obvious.
• In the English case of I.R.C. v. Hinchy, it was held that it is very doubtful if punctuation marks can be looked at for the
purposes of construction.
• In Bihar SEE v. Pulak Enterprises, it was held that punctuation mark (comma) is a minor element in the interpretation
of statute, especially in case of subordinate legislation.
• In Director of Public Prosecution v. Schildkamp, LORD REID agreed that punctuation can be of some assistance in
construction.
• Limitations of Punctuation Marks as Internal Aid to Construction
• Some jurists have opined that punctuation marks are of no use as internal aids to construction and it is an error to rely on
punctuation marks in construing the Acts of Legislature.
Explanations
• Explanations are inserted with the purpose of explaining the meaning of a particular
provision and to remove doubts which might creep up if the explanation had not been
inserted.
• It does not expand the meaning of the provision to which it is added but only ties to
remove confusion, if any, in the understanding of the true meaning of the enactment.
• A large number of Indian Acts have explanations attached to various sections. For
instance, Section 108 of the Indian Penal Code which defines the word ‘abettor’ has five
explanations attached to it. Sometimes, explanations are inserted not at the time of
enactment of a statute but at a later stage. For instance, the two explanations to Section
405 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines the crime of ‘Criminal breach of trust’,
were inserted in 1973 and 1975 respectively.
• There may be a case where in spite of many clauses in a section only one explanation is
attached to the section as is the case with Section 20 of the Code of Civil Procedure,
1908. In such a case it must be seen as to which clause the explanation is connected
with– Patel Roadways limited v. Prasad Trading Company.
Explanations
• In Bengal Immunity Company v. State of Bihar, the Supreme Court has observed that an
explanation is a part of the section to which it is appended and the whole lot should be read
together to know the true meaning of the provision.
• In Bihta Co-operative Development Cane Marketing Union v. State of Bihar, the
Supreme Court said that in case of a conflict between the main provision and the explanation
attached to it, the general duty of the court is to try to harmonise the two.
• In S. Sundaram v. V.R. Pattabhiraman, the Supreme Court observed that it is now well
settled that an explanation added to a statutory provision is not a substantive provision in any
sense of the term but as the plain meaning of the word itself shows it is merely meant to
explain or clarify certain ambiguities which may have crept in the statutory provision.
The object of an explanation to a statutory provision is:
• to explain the meaning and intendment of the Act itself;
• where there is any obscurity or vagueness in the main enactment, to clarify the same so as to
make it consistent with the dominant object which it seems to subserve;
• to provide additional support to the dominant object of the Act in order to make it meaningful
and purposeful.
Explanations
• An explanation cannot in any way interfere with or change the enactment of
any part thereof but where some gap is left which is relevant for the purpose
of the explanation, in order to suppress the mischief and advance the object of
the Act it can help or assist the court in interpreting the true purport and
intendment of the enactment, and it cannot, however, take away a statutory
right with which any person under a statute has been clothed or set at naught
the working of the Act by becoming an hindrance in the interpretation of the
same.
• In M.K. Salpekar v. Sunil Kumar Shamsunder Chaudhari, the Supreme
Court observed that where a provision is related to two kinds of
accommodation—residential and non-residential, and the explanation attached
to it refers to only residential accommodation, it cannot control non-residential
accommodation and, therefore, cannot be looked into in matters connected
with the latter.
• Limitation of Explanation as Internal Aid to Construction
• Explanation cannot have the effect of modifying the language of section.
• Explanation cannot control the plain meaning of words of the section
Definition or Interpretation clause

Definition or Interpretation clause

It define certain words used elsewhere in the body of statute
with the purpose-
• to avoid the necessity of frequent repetitions in describing
the subject matter and
• extend the natural meaning of some words as per the
statute.
• It also define intention of the legislature in respect of words
mention in statute and avoid confusion.
Definition or Interpretation clause
• The rule of interpretation is that whenever the words means or means and
include' are used in definition, it makes the definition exhaustive and don't
allow to interpret the definition widely but if the word includes' is used in the
definition it provide widest interpretation possible to the definition or enlarge
the ordinary meaning of the word.

However, if the definition clause will result in an absurdity, the court will not
apply such definitions and the definition clause of one act can't be used to
explain same word used in another statute except in the case of statutes in pari
materia.

Mahalaxmi Oils Mils v. State of A.P [8], interpretation of word tobacco was in
question which said tobacco means any form of tobacco whether cured or
uncured or manufactured or not and includes leaf stalks and steams of
tobacco plant. The SC held that the definition is exhaustive and refused to
 Saving Clause
Saving Clause
Saving Clause are generally appended in cases of repeal and reenactment of a new statute
• It is inserted in the repealing statute.
• By this the rights already created under repealed enactment are not disturbed nor are new rights created by it.
• In the case of clash between the main part of statute and a saving clause, the saving clause has to be rejected.
Proviso
• The proviso to a section has the natural presumption that enacting part of the section would have included the
subject matter of the proviso.
• The proviso serve four different purposes- qualify or exempt certain provision, provide mandatory condition to
be fulfilled by to make enactment workable, act as optional addenda and become integral part of the enactment.
• The rule of interpretation of proviso is that it can neither nullify the implication of main enactment nor can
enlarge the scope of main enactment and can only be referred in case of ambiguity in the section.
• In case of conflict between main enactment and proviso, it must be harmoniously construct or in the view of
many jurist proviso will prevail as it is the last intention of the legislature.

Example- Article 16(4) is considered as proviso of Article 16(1) held in T. Devadasan v. Union of India.
External Aids to interpretation of statutes
• External aids are the aids which are not available inside the statute but outside the statute, the court may seek
help to the external aids in case of repugnancy or inconsistency in the statutory provision which are as follows-
• Dictionaries
When a word used in the statute is not defined therein or if defined but the meaning is unclear only in such
situation, the court may refer to the dictionary meaning of the statute to find out meaning of the word in
ordinary sense.

The meaning of such words shall be interpreted so to make sure that it is speaking about the particular statute
because words bears different meaning in different context.
Motipur zamindary company private limited v. State of Bihar, the question was whether sales tax can be
levied on Sugarcane.

The applicant argued that it is green vegetable and should be exempted from tax. The dictionary meaning of
vegetable said anything which derived or obtained from the plants. The SC rejected dictionary meaning and
held that in common parlance vegetable is something which is grown in kitchen garden and used during lunch
and dinner and held that sugarcane is not vegetable
External Aids to interpretation of statutes
1. Text Books
The court while construing an enactment, may refer to the standard textbooks to clear the meaning. Although,
the courts are not bound to accept such view.
The court time and again referred to mulla, kautiliya, manu, arthshastra.

Example: in Kesavananda Bharthi case, judges quoted large number of books.

2. Statement of objects and reasons

The statement of object and reasons are attached to the bill which describe the objects, purpose and the reason
for the bill. It also gives understanding of the background, the antecedent state of affairs and the object the law
seeks to achieve.

The parliament before passing a bill must take into consideration that what object a bill serve to achieve.
However, it is not considered as conclusive aid to interpretation because doesn't impart the true meaning to the
statutory provision.
Aids to interpretation of statutes
External Aids to interpretation of statutes
1. Constituent Debates/Speech
It shall compromises all such debate which had taken place in the parliament at the time of formation of
Constitution of India.
In case of inconsistency or repugnancy in the Constitution the court can clearly refer to such debates.

Indra Sawhney v. Union of India [12], the interpretation of the expression backward class of citizen' used
in Article 16(4) was in question before the court. The SC under this case referred to the speech given by
B.R. Ambedkar to understand the context, background and object behind its use of the given expression.

2. Legislative Debates/Speech
it is referred as to debates or speeches which are made in the course of passing a bill in the parliament by the
parliamentarians to put forth their view.
It is not considered as a conclusive aid to interpretation and is therefore, not admissible because many times
speeches are influenced by the political pressure or maybe incorrect to rely upon.
Aids to interpretation of statutes
1. Committee Reports
Before the framing of the Bill, usually the matter is referred to a committee to consider it in detail and give its
report thereon.
These reports of the commissions and committee have been referred to as evidence of historical facts or of
surrounding circumstances and used for interpreting the Act.
When there is an ambiguity in the meaning of a provision and the act was passed on the recommendation of a
committee report, aid can be taken from that report to interpret the provision.
Example: the criminal amendment act was based on the recommendation by J.S. Verma Committee Report
such report can be referred in case of any ambiguity in amendment.

2. Foreign laws and decisions

Judges may refer to foreign laws and decision if the jurisprudence of both the countries is same, similarity in
political system and ideology, when there is no domestic law on point and if the Indian court believe that
decision passed by the foreign court is not arbitrary.
However, the foreign courts or decision have only persuasive value as the courts in India are not bound by the
foreign courts.
Example: in Right to Privacy case, judges refer to foreign judgements.