CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH BIHAR

PROJECT
Of
Interpretation of Statutes
Topic: External Aid to Construction

Submitted to: Dr. S.P Shrivastava

Submitted by: Kumari Anjali Sinha
Enroll. Id: CUSB1613125026
Program: B.A.LL.B (Hons.)
Semester: 7thsemester
Paper: interpretation of statute (LAW400)

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 Acknowledgment

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my

Dr. S.P Shrivastava, who gave me the golden opportunity to

do this wonderful project of Interpretation of Statutes on the

topic “External Aid to Construction,” who has helped me in

completing my assignment. I came to know about so many

new things I am really thankful to them. Secondly I would

also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot

in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.

Kumari Anjali Sinha

B.A.LL.B, 7th Semester

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 Table of Contents

Sr.no Contents Page

no.
1. Table of cases 04
2. Introduction 05 - 06
3. Parliamentary history 07 - 08
4. Historical facts and surrounding 08- 09
circumstances
5. Later social, political, and 09 - 10
economic development and
scientific inventions.
6. Reference to other statutes 10 - 11
7. Use of foreign decisions 11 -12
8. Dictionaries 12 - 14
09. Conclusion 15
10. Bibliography 16

Table of cases
 Prabhakar Rao and others v. State of A.P. And others

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 District Mining Officer and others v. Tata Iron & Steel Co. and another
 Indira Sawhney v Union of India
 Ashwini Kumar Ghose and Anr. V Arabinda Bose
 State of West Bengal v Subhodh Gopal Bose
 Harsharan Verma v Tribhuvan Narain Singh
 Bengal Immunity Co. V State of Bihar
 State v J S. Chawdhry
 Hanumant v State of Madhya Pradesh
 State of Maharastra v Dr. Prafulla Desai
 United Society v Eagle Bank
 State of Punjab v Okara Grain Buyers syndicate Ltd.
 State of Madras v A. Vaudyanath Aiyer
 General Electricity Compant v Renusagar Power Company
 M. V. Elisabeth v Harwan Investment and Trading Pvt. Ltd,
 Lee v. Showman's Guild of Great Britain
 Alamgir v State of Bihar
 Mangoo Singh v. Election Tribunal

Introduction

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 "By interpretation or construction is meant.” Says Salmond, "the process by which the courts
seek to ascertain the meaning of the legislature through the medium of authoritative forms in
which it is expressed.”1 A statute is an edict of the Legislature and the conventional way of
interpreting and construing a statute is to seek the intention of its maker. A statute is to be
construed according to the intent of them that make it and the duty of judicature is to act upon
the true intention of the legislature- the mens or sentential legis2.”

There are two types of aids to interpretation: internal aid and the external aids. The following
are considered internal aids to interpretation

 Long Title: it is now settled that Long Title of an Act is a part of the Act and is
admissible as an aid to its construction. The title although part of the Act is in itself
not an enacting provision and though useful in case of ambiguity of the enacting
provision, is ineffective to control their clear meaning.
 Preamble: the preamble of a statute like the long title is a part of the Act and is an
admissible aid to construction. Although not an enacting part, the preamble is
expected to express the scope, object, and purpose of the Act more comprehensively
than the long title.
 Preamble of the Constitution: the majority judgment in Keshavananda Bharti and
Minerva Mills relied upon the Preamble in reaching the conclusion that the power of
amendment conferred by Art 368 was limited and did not enable parliament to alter
the basic structure of the Constitution.
 Headings: the view is now settled that the Headings or Titles prefixed to Sections or
group of Sections can be referred to in construing an Act of the legislature.
 Marginal Notes: one cannot ignore the fact that the headings and side notes are
included on the face of the Bill throughout its passage through the legislature. They
are there for guidance. They provide a context for the examination of those parts of
the Bill that are open for debate.
 Punctuations: statutes may contain punctuations in the forms of semi-colon, colon,
comma, full stop, hyphen, dash, bracket, and the like.
 Illustrations: They form part of the statute and although forming no part of the
section, are of relevance in the construction of the text of the Section.

1
Salmond, salmond on Jurisprudence, p. 152 (sweet and Maxwell, 11 th edition).
2
Vishnu Pratap Sugar Works Ltd. V. Cheif Inspector of Stamp, UP, AIR 1968 SC 102.

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  Interpretation Clauses: it is common to find in a statute "definitions of certain
words and expressions used elsewhere in the body of the statute. These definitions are
generally very useful while interpreting the meaning of the ambiguous terms.
 Proviso: when one finds a proviso to a section the natural presumption is that, but for
the proviso, the enacting part of the section would have included the subject matter of
the proviso.
 Explanation: an explanation is at times appended to a section to explain the meaning
of words contained in the Section.
 Schedule: schedules appended to statutes form part of the statute. They are added
towards the end and their use is made to avoid encumbering the sections in the statute
with matters of excessive details

External aids to interpretation of statutes include Parliamentary History, Historical Facts

and Surrounding Circumstances, Latest Social, Political and Economic Development
and Scientific Inventions, Reference to Other Statutes (pari materia), Dictionaries and
Use of Foreign Decisions. Each of the above mentioned constituents of external aids to
construction have been dealt briefly in the due course of my work. When internal aid is not
adequate, court has to take recourse to External aids. In Prabhakar Rao and others v. State
of A.P. And others3, o. Chennapa, Reddy J. have observed: where internal aids are not
forthcoming, we can always have recourse to external aids to discover the object of the
legislation. External aids are not ruled out. This is now a well settled principle of modern
statutory construction.

Further, in the case of District Mining Officer and others v. Tata Iron & Steel Co. and
another4, the Supreme Court has observed: “It is also a cardinal principle of construction that
external aids are brought in by widening the concept of context as including not only other
enacting provisions of the same statute, but its preamble, the existing state of law, other
statutes in pari materia and the mischief which the statute was intended to remedy.

3
AIR 1986 SC 120
4
(2001) 7 SCC 358

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 Parliamentary History
The ingredients of Parliamentary History are the bill in its original form or the amendments
considered during its progress in the Legislature, Speech of the minister who introduced the
bill in the Parliament which is also referred to as Statements of Objects and Reasons, Reports
of Parliamentary debates and resolutions passed by either House of the Parliament and the
Reports submitted different Parliamentary Committees.

According to the traditional English view the Parliamentary History of a statute was not
considered as an aid to construction. The Supreme Court of India in the beginning enunciated
the rule of exclusion of Parliamentary History in the way it was traditionally enunciated by
the English Courts but on many an occasion, the court used this aid in resolving questions of
construction5.

In Indira Sawhney v. Union of India 6 while interpreting Article 16(4) of the Constitution
the Supreme Court referred to Dr. Ambedkar's speech in the Constituent Assembly as the
expression backward class of citizens is not defined. The court held that reference to
Parliamentary debate is permissible to ascertain the context, background, and objective of the
legislatures but at the same time such references could not be taken as conclusive or binding
on the courts. Thus in the Mandal Reservation Case, the Supreme Court resorted to
Parliamentary History as an aid to interpretation

In the Ashwini Kumar Ghose & Anr. v Arbinado Bose & Anr 7., the then Chief Justice of
India Patanjali Shastri quotes that the Statement of Objects and Reasons should not be used
as an aid to interpretation because in his opinion the Statement of Objects and Reasons is
presented in the Parliament when a bill is being introduced. During the course of the
processing of the bill, it undergoes radical changes. But in the Subodh Gopal's Case8 (1954),
Justice S.R. Das although he fully supported Chief Justice Patanjali Shastri's views in the
Ashwini Kumar's Case but he wanted to use the Statement of Objects and Reasons to protect
the sharecroppers against eviction by the new buyers of land since zamindari system was still
not abolished and land was still not the property of the farmers. So Justice S.R. Das took the

5
Singh G. P., Principles of Statutory Interpretation, Wadhwa and Company, Nagpur, (10 th edition 2006) pg. 221.
6
AIR 1993 SC 477
7
AIF 1952 SC 369
8
State of West Bengal v. Subodh Gopal Bose, AIR 1954 SC 92

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help of Statements of Objects and Reasons to analyse the social, legal, economic, and
political condition in which the bill was introduced

In Harsharan Verma v. Tribhuvan Narain Singh 9 the appointment of Tribhuvan Narayan

Singh as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was challenged as at the time of his appointment
he was neither a member of Vidhan Sabha nor a member of Vidhan Parishad. While
interpreting Article 164(4) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court held that it did not require
that a Minister should be a Member of the Legislature at the time of his being chosen as such,
the Supreme Court referred to an amendment which was rejected by the Constituent
Assembly requiring that a Minister at the time of his being chosen should be a member of the
Legislature.

Historical Facts and Surrounding

circumstances
Historical facts are very essential to understand the subject matter of the statute or to have
regard to the surrounding circumstances which existed at the time of passing of the statute.
The rule of admissibility of this external aid is especially useful in mischief rule. The rule that
was laid down in the Heydon's Case10 (1584) has now attained the status of a classic. The
mischief rule enables the consideration of four matters in construing an act:

• What was the law before the making of the Act?

• What was the mischief for which the law did not provide?

• What was the remedy provided by the Act?

• What was the reason of the remedy?

This rule was applied in Bengal Immunity Co. v. State of Bihar 11 in the construction of
Article 286 of the Constitution in which the Supreme Court held that a state has the

9
AIR 1971 SC 1331
10
76 ER 637
11
AIR 1955 SC 661

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legislative competence to impose sales tax only if all the ingredients of a sale have a
territorial nexus. Thus on the same transaction sales tax cannot be imposed by several states.

Since the function of the court is to find the meaning of the ambiguous words in a statute, a
reference to the historical facts and surrounding circumstances that led to the enactment assist
the courts in efficient administration of speedy justice. The rule permits recourse to historical
works, engravings, pictures, and documents where it is important to ascertain ancient facts of
a public nature. Historical evolution of a provision in the statute is also sometimes a useful
guide to its construction12.

Later social, political, and economic

development and Scientific Inventions
The laws made in the past are applied in the present contemporary society in the light of
changed social, political, legal, and economic circumstances taking into consideration the
advancement in science and technology. Statutes must be interpreted in accordance with the
spirit of the Constitution of India even though the statutes were passed before independence
of India or before the commencement of our Constitution.

The case State v. J.S. Chaudhary13 related to Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act 1872
which only mentions about handwriting experts and not typewriting experts for the reason
that typewriters were invented much later than 1872.In the instant case the state wanted to use
the opinion of a typewriting expert as evidence in a murder case. The Supreme Court then
overruled its decision in the case Hanumant v. State of Madhya Pradesh which held that the
opinion of the typewriting expert was inadmissible as evidence in the court of law.

State of Maharashtra v. Dr. Prafulla 14 Desai case relates to Section 388 of the Indian Penal
Code which deals with gross medical negligence resulting in the death of the patient. The
prosecution wanted to produce the statements of a New York Doctor Dr.Greenberg as
evidence. The problem arose when Dr.Greenberg refused to appear in the Indian Court to
record his statements. There is no such provision which can compel a witness residing
outside the domestic territory of India to come to an Indian court as a witness. Thus in such

12
R. V. Ireland, (1997) 4 All ER 225
13
AIR 1996 SC 1491
14
AIR 2003 SC 2053

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circumstances video conferencing became the only viable option. But the accused opposed
video conferencing under Section 273 of Criminal Procedure Code which clearly says that
evidence can be recorded only in the presence of the accused. The Supreme Court interpreted
presence not merely as physical presence but as a situation in which the accused can see,
hear, and question the witness.

Reference to Other Statutes

Statutes must be read as a whole in order to understand the words in their context. Problem
arises when a statute is not complete in itself i.e. the words used in the statute are not
explained clearly. Extension of this rule of context permits reference to other statutes in pari
materia i.e. statutes dealing with the same subject matter or forming part of the same system.
The meaning of the phrase pari materia was explained in an American Case, United Society
v. Eagle Bank in the following words: "Statutes are in pari materia which relate to the same
person or thing, or to the same class of persons or things. The word par must not be
confounded with the word similes. It is used in opposition to it- intimation not likness merely
but identity. It is a phrase applicable to public statutes or general laws made at different times
and in reference to the same subject15.”

In the case, State of Punjab v. Okara Grain Buyers syndicate Ltd 16., Okara the Supreme
Court held that when two pieces of legislation are of different scopes, it cannot be said that
they are in pari materia. However it is not necessary that the entire subject matter in the
statutes should be identical before any provision in one may be held to be in pari materia with
some provision in the other.

In the case State of Madras v. A. Vaidyanath Aiyer 17, the respondent, an income tax officer
was accused of accepting bribe. The Trial Court convicted him and awarded a rigorous
imprisonment of six months. When an appeal was made in the High Court, the High Court set
him free on the ground of a possibility that he might have borrowed the money and not
accepted it as bribe. The Supreme Court held the accused guilty and made an observation that
the judgement of the High Court was extremely perverse.

15
Supra 5 at pg 275.
16
AIR 1964 SC 669
17
AIR 1958 SC 61

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 In the instant case, the Supreme Court held that Section 4 of the Prevention of Corruption
Act,1947, which directs that on proof that the accused has accepted any gratification other
than legal remuneration, it shall be presumed unless the contrary is established by the accused
that the gratification was accepted as bribe, has been held to be in pari materia with subject
matter dealt with by the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and the definition shall presume in the
Indian Evidence Act has been utilized to construct the words it shall be presumed in section 4
of the Prevention of Corruption Act,1947.

Use of Foreign Decisions

Reference to decisions of the English Courts was a common practice in the administration of
justice in pre independent India. The reason behind this was that the Modern Indian Legal
System owes its origin to the English Common Law System. But after the commencement of
the Constitution of India as a result the incorporation of the Fundamental Rights, the Supreme
Court of India gave more access to American precedents

It cannot, however, be doubted that knowledge of English law and precedents when the
language of an Indian Act was not clear or express has often been of valuable assistance
Speaking about Indian Codes Shri M.C.Setalvad has stated: "Where the language of the code
was clear and applicable, no question of relying on English Authority would arise. But very
often the general rule in the Indian Code was based on an English Principle and in such cases
the Indian Courts frequently sought the assistance of English Decisions to support the
conclusion they reached. They could not otherwise for not only the general rules contained in
the codes but some of the illustrations given to clarify the general rules were based on
English decisions."

In the case General Electric Company v. Renusagar Power Company18, the Supreme
Court of India held that when guidance is available from Indian decisions, reference to
foreign decisions may become unnecessary.

Different circumstances may also result in non acceptance of English precedents by the
Indian Courts. In the case M.V.Elisabeth v. Harwan Investment and Trading Pvt Ltd 19.
the Supreme Court differed from English decisions and interpreted the words damage caused
by a ship in Section 443 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 as not limited to a physical
18
(1987) 4 SCC 137
19
AIR 1993 SC 1014

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damage caused by a ship by reason of its coming into contact with something; it intended to
include damage to the cargo carried in a ship. The Supreme Court in this case differed in its
opinion because in India there is no other Act covering claim of damages for damage to the
cargo carried in a ship but in England this subject is covered expressly by a different Act.

Dictionaries
Words used in a statute should be interpreted in the light of their ordinary sense. To find out
the ordinary sense of the words, dictionaries can naturally be of help. Dictionaries can,
therefore, be consulted by the courts whenever the need arises to know the ordinary sense of
a word. But the courts must be careful because it is not necessary that dictionary meanings a
word e b true meaning in a particular context. "It is for the court to interpret the statute as best
as it may. In so doing the court may no doubt assist themselves in the discharge of their duty
by any literary help they can find, including of course the consultation of standard authors
and reference to well-known and authoritative dictionary Load Coleridge observed: "I am
quite aware that dictionaries are not to be taken as authoritative exponents of the meanings of
words used in Act of Parliament, but it is well known rule of courts of law that words should
be taken to be used in their ordinary sense and we are. Therefore sent for instruction to these
books. In Lee v. Showman's Guild of Great Britain20, it was said by Somerwell J.J that it is
often fallacious in considering the meaning of a phrase consisting of two minds h e meaning
which each has separately and then infer that the two together cover the combination so
arrived at. The two together may, as here, have acquired a Special meaning of their own

Diverse meanings of words are given in a dictionary. It is very difficult for a court to choose
the correct meaning out of the same. Under these circumstances the context in which the
word has been used becomes very important. The court should, therefore, always keep in
mind the context in which a word has been used while choosing the correct meaning of that
word."

In Alamgir v. State of Bihar21, the appellant was charged with having committed an offence
under Section 498, Indian Penal Code for keeping with him a married woman The relevant
section reads Whoever takes or entices away any woman who is and whom he knows has
reason to believe to be the wife of any other man from that man, or from any person having

20
(1952) 23 QB 338
21
AIR 1956 SC 436

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the care of her on behalf of that man with intent that she may have illicit intercourse with any
person, or conceals or is it that intent any such woman, shall be punished with "One of the
contentions of the accused was that since the woman had come to live with him voluntarily
leaving her husband, he could not be said to have detained her. Rejecting the contention, the
Supreme Court held that even though the word detained may mean detention against the will
of the detainee, this dictionary meaning is not the true meaning of this word in the present
context. The provision aims at protecting the rights of the husband against anyone interfering
with it by depriving him of the company of his wife and in this context, therefore, the
contention of the accused cannot be accepted.

In Mangoo Singh v. Election Tribunal22 the appellant at the time of filing nomination for
contesting an election, owed municipal taxes in excess of one year's demand. He, however,
paid up all taxes before the date of poll and was elected. His election was set aside. He
contended before the Supreme Court that the important date was not the date of filing
nominations but the date of the poll and further, des corded upon him. Dismissing his
petition, the Supreme Court held relevant date was the date of nomination and not the date of
poll. The word demand may mean something called for or asked for also as contended by the
appellant, but in the present context of Section 13D (g)) of the U.P. Municipalities Act. 1916,
which reads, 'a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being a member of a
Municipal Board if he is in arrears in the payment of Municipal Tax or other dues in excess
of one year’s demand, provided that the disqualification shall cease as soon as the arrears are
paid, it can only mean taxes, arrears or dues.

In Ramavtar Assistant Sales Tax Officer 23, the question was whether betel leaves are
vegetables and therefore exempt from imposition of sales tax under the Central Provinces and
Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947 as amended by Act 16 of 1948. The dictionary meaning of
'vegetable was sought to be relied on wherein it has been defined as pertaining to, comprised
or consisting of, or derived or obtained from plants or their parts. The Supreme Court held
that the dictionary meaning could not be said to reflect the true intention of the framers of the
sales-tax law and Betel leaves should be understood in the same sense in which they are
commonly understood. Therefore, sales-tax could be levied on the sale of betel leaves24.

22
AIR 1957 SC 871
23
AIR 1961 SC 1325
24
Bhattacharyya.T, The Interpretation of Statutes, Central Law Agency, 10 th edition 2017, pg. 230.

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 Conclusion
The chief source of law is legislation, though there are other sources of law such as
precedents and customs. Every source of law finds its expression in a language. Often the
language has a puzzling effect, i.e. it masks and distorts. Often it is found that the language of

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a statute is not clear. The words used in the statute too at times seem to be ambiguous.
Sometimes it is not possible to assign the dictionary meaning to certain words used in
legislation. Meaning which is to be assigned to certain words in legislation. Even the
dictionary does not give the clear-cut meaning of a word. This is so because the dictionary
gives many alternative meanings applicable in different contexts and for different purposes so
that no clear field for the application of a word is easily identified. So long as expansion of
meaning takes place uniformly, the law will develop along healthy lines. But if one judge
takes the narrow view and the other the broad view the law will mean different things for
different persons and soon there will be confusion. Hence, it is necessary that there should be
some rules of interpretation to ensure just and uniform decisions. Such rules are called rules
of interpretation. There are various aids to the rule of interpretation and in case the ambiguity
is not removed even after applying the internal aids, then the external aids can come in handy.
They provide various methods by the help of which a statute can be interpreted and used by
the judiciary in deciding cases.

Bibliography

Books
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  Singh G. P, Statutory Interpretation, Lexis Nexis, 14th Edition
2016.
 Bhattacharayya T, the Interpretation of Statutes, Central Law
Agency, 10th edition 2017.
 Salmond, Salmond on Jurisprudence, Sweet and Maxwell, 11th
Edition.

Websites
 www.indiankanoon.com
 www.legalserviceindia.com
 www.legalbite.com
 www.legallyindia.com

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