DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES AND CONSTRUCTION OF STATUTES

 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES AND CONSTRUCTION OF STATUTES

 

A statute can be defined as a written expression of the direction or intent of a legislature or the law-makers. A law made by the Law-makers can be interpreted or construed to determine its intended meaning. The judicial authorities can discover true the meaning and objectives of the legislation with the help of the process of interpretation and construction of the statutes. Let us now distinguish between the two of them:

 

1)   Interpretation of a statute can be seen as a mean of understanding the law made by the Law-makers. The aim of a Court is not just read law but to apply it in a manner which suits from case to case. Therefore, Interpretation of statutes can be said to be a process that is used by the courts to find out the actual implication of a Statute or Act or a Document as well as a mean to understand its intention. Interpretation of statutes bridges the gap between the enactment of a law and its translation.

 

Construction of a statute is the activity of translating the semantics of a legal text into legal rules. In Law, Construction of statutes is regarded as the process of legal explanation which makes sense of difficult and hard terms written in a statute and gives a conclusion based on the logic and reasoning. A Court extracts findings after inspecting the meaning of the words used in the text through construction.

 

2)   The basis of Interpretation is to clarify the meaning of the words used in-laws and statutes which might be ambiguous. There might be irregularities in laws which need to be corrected and they can be done by applying various theories of interpretation to see which might go against the literal meanings of those laws or statutes. Therefore, interpretation is the process of ascertaining the true meaning of the words used in a statute and the purpose of the legislation.

 

The ultimate goal of Construction is to establish the legal effect of any legal text. The basic principle of construction is to read the text, law or statute in a literal manner. Construction of statutes basically is the process in which a legal text is utilized to draw conclusions that go beyond the plain language of such legal text to solve inconsistencies.

 

3)   Interpretation of a legal text takes place when we want to find the original meaning of such legal text. All other types of constitutional analysis come under Construction.

 

4)   Interpretation deals with identifying the semantic meaning of a particular use of language in a legal context. Construction is the process in which the meaning is applied to particular factual circumstances.

 

5)   Interpretation is the process that is used to determine the linguistic meaning of a legal text. The legal impact of the text can be ascertained through Construction.

 

6)   A legal text can be partially interpreted but it is necessary to complete construction of any legal text as a whole.

 

7)   Interpretation can be seen as a broad form of Construction. Construction can be regarded as nothing other than a method of Interpretation where the words are interpreted vigorously and literally.

 

References:

 

Websites-

 

·      iPleaders Blog ( https://blog.ipleaders.in/ )

 

·      Legal Service India (  https://www.legalserviceindia.com/ )

 

Books-

 

·      ‘The Interpretation of Statutes’ by Prof. T. Bhattacharya.

 

 

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