INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES

BACK PAPER PROJECT ON:

ROLE OF PROVISOS IN STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

SUBMITTED TO:

DR. ABHIK MAJUMDAR (ASST. PROFESSOR OF LAW)

SUBMITTED BY:

HEMANT PRAJAPATI

2014(R)/ BA.LLB./017

SEMESTER – VII

FOURTH (IV) YEAR

 INRODUCTION

CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION DEFINED

Statutory Construction – the art or process of discovering and expounding the meaning and
intention of the authors of the law with respect to its application to a given case, where that
intention is rendered doubtful, among others, by reason of the fact that the given case is not
explicitly provided for in the law.

Justice Martin defines statutory construction as the art of seeking the intention of the legislature
in enacting a statute and applying it to a given state of facts.

A judicial function is required when a statute is invoked and different interpretations are in
contention.

Difference between judicial legislation and statutory construction:

Where legislature attempts to do several things one which is invalid, it may be discarded if the
remainder of the act is workable and in no way depends upon the invalid portion, but if that
portion is an integral part of the act, and its excision changes the manifest intent of the act by
broadening its scope to include subject matter or territory which was not included therein as
enacted, such excision is “judicial legislation” and not “statutory construction
CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION, DISTINGUISHED

Construction is the drawing of conclusions with respect to subjects that are beyond the direct
expression of the text, while interpretation is the process of discovering the true meaning of the
language used.

Interpretation is limited to exploring the written text. Construction on the other hand is the
drawing of conclusions, respecting subjects that lie beyond the direct expressions of the text.

SITUS OF CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

In our system of government:

 Legislative power is vested in the Congress of the Philippines – the Senate and the House of
the Representatives
 Executive power is vested in the President of the Republic of the Philippines (Art. VII, Sec.1,
Phil. Const.)
 Judicial power is vested in one Supreme Court and in such lower courts as may be
established by law. (Art VIII, Sec. 1, Phil. Const.)

Legislative – makes the law

Executive - executes the law

Judicial – interprets the law

Simply stated, the situs of construction and interpretation of written laws belong to the judicial
department.

It is the duty of the Courts of Justice to settle actual controversies involving rights which are
legally demandable and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a grave
abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or
instrumentality of the government.

Supreme Court is the one and only Constitutional Court and all other lower courts are statutory
courts and such lower courts have the power to construe and interpret written laws.

DUTY OF THE COURTS TO CONSTRUE AND INTERPRET THE LAW; REQUISITES

1. There must be an actual case or controversy,

2. There is ambiguity in the law involved in the controversy.

Ambiguity exists if reasonable persons can find different meanings in a statute, document, etc.

A statute is ambiguous if it is admissible of two or more possible meanings.

If the law is clear and unequivocal, the Court has no other alternative but to apply the law and
not to interpret.
Construction and interpretation of law come only after it has been demonstrated that application
is impossible or inadequate without them.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

Hermeneutics – the science or art of construction and interpretation.

Legal hermeneutics – is the systematic body of rules which are recognized as applicable to the
construction and interpretation of legal writings.

Dr. Lieber in his work on Hermeneutics gives the following classification of the different kinds
of interpretation:

1. Close interpretation – adopted if just reasons connected with the character and formation of
the text induce as to take the words in the narrowest meaning. This is generally known as
“literal” interpretation.
2. Extensive interpretation – also called as liberal interpretation, it adopts a more
comprehensive signification of the words.
3. Extravagant interpretation – substitutes a meaning evidently beyond the true one. It is
therefore not genuine interpretation.
4. Free or unrestricted interpretation – proceeds simply on he general principles of
interpretation in good faith, not bound by any specific or superior principle.
5. Limited or restricted interpretation - influenced by other principles than the strictly
hermeneutic ones.
6. Predestined interpretation – takes place when the interpreter, laboring under a strong bias of
mind, makes the text subservient to his preconceived views and desires.
SUBJECTS OF CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

Most common subjects of construction and interpretation are the constitution and statutes which
include ordinances. But we may also add resolutions, executive orders and department circulars.
 CHAPTER II

STATUTES

LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURES

The power to make laws is lodged in the legislative department of the government.

A statute starts with a bill.

Bill – is the draft of a proposed law from the time of its introduction in a legislative body through
all the various stages in both houses. It is enacted into law by a vote of the legislative body. An
“Act” is the appropriate term for it after it has been acted on and passed by the legislature. It
then becomes a statute, the written will of the legislature solemnly expressed according to the
form necessary to constitute it as the law of the state.

“Statute Law” is a term often used interchangeably with the word “statute”. Statute Law,
however, is broader in meaning since it includes not only statute but also the judicial
interpretation and application of the enactment.

PARTS OF STATUTE

a. Title – the heading on the preliminary part, furnishing the name by which the act is
individually known. It is usually prefixed to the statute in the brief summary of its contents.
b. Preamble – part of statute explaining the reasons for its enactment and the objects sought to
be accomplished. Usually, it starts with “whereas”.
c. Enacting clause – part of statute which declares its enactment and serves to identify it as an
act of legislation proceeding from the proper legislative authority. “Be enacted” is the usual
formula used to start this clause.
d. Body – the main and operative part of the statute containing its substantive and even
procedural provisions. Provisos and exceptions may also be found.
e. Repealing Clause - announces the prior statutes or specific provisions which have been
abrogated by reason of the enactment of the new law.
f. Saving Clause – restriction in a repealing act, which is intended to save rights, pending
proceedings, penalties, etc. from the annihilation which would result from an unrestricted
repeal.
g. Separability Clause – provides that in the event that one or more provisions or
unconstitutional, the remaining provisions shall still be in force.
h. Effectivity Clause – announces the effective date of the law.

KINDS OF STATUTES

1. General Law – affects the community at large. That which affects all people of the state or
all of a particular class.

2. Special Law – designed for a particular purpose, or limited in range or confined to a

prescribed field of action on operation.

3. Local Law – relates or operates over a particular locality instead of over the whole territory
of the state.

4. Public Law – a general classification of law, consisting generally of constitutional,

administrative, criminal, and international law, concerned with the organization of the state,
 the relations between the state and the people who compose it, the responsibilities of public
officers of the state, to each other, and to private persons, and the relations of state to one
another. Public law may be general, local or special law.

5. Private Law – defines, regulates, enforces and administers relationships among individuals,
associations and corporations.

6. Remedial Statute – providing means or method whereby causes of action may be

affectuated, wrongs redressed and relief obtained.

7. Curative Statute – a form of retrospective legislation which reaches back into the past to
operate upon past events, acts or transactions in order to correct errors and irregularities and
to render valid and effective many attempted acts which would otherwise be ineffective for
the purpose intended.

8. Penal Statute – defines criminal offenses specify corresponding fines and punishments.

9. Prospective Law – applicable only to cases which shall arise after its enactment.

10. Retrospective Law – looks backward or contemplates the past; one which is made to affect
acts or facts occurring, or rights occurring, before it came into force.

11. Affirmative Statute – directs the doing of an act, or declares what shall be done in contrast
to a negative statute which is one that prohibits the things from being done, or declares what
shall not be done.
12. Mandatory Statutes – generic term describing statutes which require and not merely permit
a course of action.

CONCEPT OF VAGUE STATUTES

Statues or act may be said to be vague when it lacks comprehensible standards those men “of
common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application.

Statute is repugnant to the Constitution in two (2) respects:

1. It violates due process for failure to accord persons fair notice of conduct to avoid; and
2. It leaves law enforcers unbridled discretions.

The Supreme Court held that the “vagueness” doctrine merely requires a reasonable degree of
certainty for the statute to be upheld--- not absolute precision or mathematical exactitude.
Flexibility, rather than meticulous specificity, is permissible as long as the metes and bounds of
the statute are clearly delineated

REPEALS OF STATUTE MAY BE EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED

Express repeal – is the abrogation or annulling of a previously existing law by the enactment of
a subsequent statute which declares that the former law shall be revoked and abrogated.

Implied repeal – when a later statute contains provisions so contrary to irreconcilable with those
of the earlier law that only one of the two statutes can stand in force.
The repeal of a penal law deprives the court of jurisdiction to punish persons charged with a
violation of the old penal law prior to its repeal.

Only a law can repeal a law.

The intention to repeal must be clear and manifest, otherwise, at least, as a general rule, the later
act is to be construed as a continuation of, and not a substitute for, the first act.

Two (2) categories of repeal by implication:

1. Where provision in the two acts on the same subject matter are in an irreconcilable conflict;
2. If the later act covers the whole subject of the earlier one and is clearly intended as a
substitute – to be a complete and perfect system in itself.

ORDINANCE
Ordinance – an act passed by the local legislative body in the exercise of its law-making
authority.

TEST OF VALID ORDINANCE

1. Must not contravene the Constitution or any statute;
2. Must not be unfair or oppressive;
3. Must not be partial or discriminatory;
4. Must not prohibit but may regulate trade;
5. Must be general and consistent with public policy; and
6. Must not be unreasonable.

REASON WHY AN ORDINANCE SHOULD NOT CONTRAVENE A STATUTE

Local councils exercise only delegated legislative powers conferred on them by Congress as the
national law making body

The delegate cannot be superior to the principal.

ROLE OF FOREIGN JURISPRUDENCE

Philippine laws must necessarily be construed in accordance with the intention of its own law
makers and such intent may be deduced from the language of each law and the context of other
local legislation related thereof.
 CHAPTER III

BASIC GUIDELINES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION OF LAWS

LEGISLATIVE INTENT

The object of all interpretation and construction of statutes is to ascertain the meaning and
intention of the legislature, to the end that the same may be enforced.

Legislative intent is determined principally from the language of the statute.

VERBA LEGIS

If the language of the statute is plain and free from ambiguity, and express a single, definite, and
sensible meaning, that meaning is conclusively presumed to be the meaning which the legislature
intended to convey.

STATUTES AS A WHOLE

A cardinal rule in statutory construction is that legislative intent must be ascertained from a
consideration of the statute as a whole and not merely of a particular provision. A word or
phrase might easily convey a meaning which is different from the one actually intended.

A statute should be construed as a whole because it is not to be presumed that the legislature has
used any useless words, and because it is dangerous practice to base the construction upon only a
part of it, since one portion may be qualified by other portions.
SPIRIT AND PURPOSE OF THE LAW

When the interpretation of a statute according to the exact and literal import of its words would
lead to absurd or mischievous consequences, or would thwart or contravene the manifest purpose
of the legislature in its enactment, it should be construed according to its spirit and reason,
disregarding or modifying, so far as may be necessary, the strict letter of the law.

 When the reason of the law ceases, the law itself ceases.
 Doctrine of necessary implications. What is implied in a statute is as much a part thereof as
that which is expressed.

CASUS OMISSUS

When a statute makes specific provisions in regard to several enumerated cases or objects, but
omits to make any provision for a case or object which is analogous to those enumerated, or
which stands upon the same reason, and is therefore within the general scope of the statute, and it
appears that such case or object was omitted by inadvertence or because it was overlooked or
unforeseen, it is called a “casus omissus”. Such omissions or defects cannot be supplied by the
courts.

The rule of “casus omissus pro omisso habendus est” can operate and apply only if and when the
omission has been clearly established.

STARE DECISIS

It is the doctrine that, when court has once laid down a principle, and apply it to all future cases,
where facts are substantially the same, regardless of whether the parties and properties are the
same.
Stare Decisis. Follow past precedents and do not disturb what has been settled. Matters already
decided on the merits cannot be relitigated again and again.

“Stare decisis et non quieta movere” (follow past precedents and do not disturb what has been
settled.

CHAPTER IV

CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION OF WORDS AND PHRASES

WHEN THE LAW DOES NOT DISTINGUISH, COURTS SHOULD NOT DISTINGUISH

When the law does not distinguish, courts should not distinguish. The rule, founded on logic, is
a corollary of the principle that general words and phrases of a statute should ordinarily be
accorded their natural and general significance.

The courts should administer the law not as they think it ought to be but as they find it and
without regard to consequences.

 If the law makes no distinction, neither should the Court.

EXCEPTIONS IN THE STATUTE

When the law does not make any exception, courts may not except something unless compelling
reasons exist to justify it.
GENERAL AND SPECIAL TERMS

General terms in a statute are to receive a general construction, unless retrained by the context or
by plain inferences from the scope and purpose of the act

General terms or provisions in a statute may be restrained and limited by specific terms or
provisions with which they are associated.

Special terms in a statute may sometimes be expanded to a general signification by the

consideration that the reason of the law is general.

FUNCTION OF THE PROVISO

Proviso is a clause or part of a clause in the statute, the office of which is either to except
something from the enacting clause, or to qualify or restrain its generality, or to exclude some
possible ground of misinterpretation of its extent.

“Provided” is the word used in introducing a proviso.

 CHAPTER V

PRESUMPTIONS IN AID OF CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

PRESUMPTIONS

In construing a doubtful or ambiguous statute, the Courts will presume that it was the intention
of the legislature to enact a valid, sensible and just law, and one which should change the prior
law no further than may be necessary to effectuate the specific purpose of the act in question.

PRESUMPTION AGAINST UNCONSTITUTIONALITY

Laws are presumed constitutional. To justify nullification of law, there must be a clear and
unequivocal breach of the constitution.

The theory is that, as the joint act of the legislative and executive authorities, a law is supposed
to have been carefully studied and determined to be constitutional before it was finally enacted.

All laws are presumed valid and constitutional until or unless otherwise ruled by the Court.

PRESUMPTION AGAINST INJUSTICE

The law should never be interpreted in such a way as to cause injustice as this never within the
legislative intent.

We interpret and apply the law in consonance with justice.

Judges do not and must not unfeelingly apply the law as it is worded, yielding like robots to the
literal command without regard to its cause and consequence.
PRESUMPTION AGAINST IMPLIED REPEALS
The two laws must be absolutely incompatible, and clear finding thereof must surface, before the
inference of implied repeal may be drawn.

In the absence of an express repeal, a subsequent law cannot be construed as repealing a prior
law unless an irreconcilable inconsistency and repugnancy exists in terms of the new and old
laws.

PRESUMPTION AGAINST INEFFECTIVENESS

In the interpretation of a statute, the Court should start with the assumption that the legislature
intended to enact an effective statute.

PRESUMPTION AGAINST ABSURDITY

Statutes must receive a sensible construction such as will give effect to the legislative intention
so as to avoid an unjust and absurd conclusion.
Presumption against undesirable consequences were never intended by a legislative measure.
 CHAPTER VI

INTRINSIC AIDS IN CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

INTRINSIC AIDS

The term “intrinsic” means internal or within. Intrinsic aids, therefore, are those aids within the
statute.

Intrinsic aids are resorted to only if there is ambiguity. In resorting to intrinsic aids, one must go
back to the parts of the statute: the title, the preamble, context or body, chapter and section
headings, punctuation, and interpretation.
 CHAPTER VII

EXTRINSIC AIDS IN CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

EXTRINSIC AIDS

These are existing aids from outside sources, meaning outside of the four corners of the statute.
If there is any doubt as to the meaning of the statute, the interpreter must first find that out within
the statute.

Extrinsic aids therefore are resorted to after exhausting all the available intrinsic aids and still
there remain some ambiguity in the statute.

Extrinsic aids resorted to by the courts are history of the enactment of the statute; opinions and
rulings of officials of the government called upon to execute or implement administrative laws;
contemporaneous construction by executive officers; actual proceedings of the legislative body;
individual statements by members of congress; and the author of the law.

Other sources of extrinsic aids can be the reports and recommendations of legislative
committees; public policy; judicial construction; and construction by the bar.
 CHAPTER VI
INTRINSIC AIDS IN CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION

INTRINSIC AIDS

The very term “intrinsic” means internal or within.

Intrinsic aids, therefore, are those aids within the statute.

If the language of the statute is clear and unequivocal, there is no need to resort to intrinsic aids.

In resorting to intrinsic aids, one must go back to the parts of the statute.

THE TITLE OF THE LAW IS A VALUABLE INTRINSIC AID IN DETERMINING

LEGISLATIVE INTENT

TEXT OF THE STATUTE AS INTRINSIC AID

Subtitle of the statute as intrinsic aid in determining legislative intent.

PREAMBLE AS INTRINSIC AID

The intent of the law as culled from its preamble and from the situation, circumstances and
conditions it sought to remedy, must be enforced.

Preamble used as a guide in determining the intent of the lawmaker.

SUPREMA LEX

It is time-honored that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land. It is the law of all laws.
Hence, if there is conflict between a statute and the Constitution, the statute shall yield to the
Constitution.

STARE DECISIS
The rule of precedents
Judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the Constitution shall form part of the
legal system of the Philippines.

CONCLUSION

The fundamental principle of constituitonal construction is to give effect to the intent of the
framers of the organic law and of the people adopting it.