Introduction The Framers of the Indian Constitution took as long as 2 years, 11 months and 18 days to draft the longest Written Constitution in the world. Resulting from several deliberations amongst numerous members of the Constituent Assembly, the final draft of the Constitution of India, 1950 was enacted on the 26th of January, 1949. The original Constitution consisted of 395 articles in 22 parts and 8 schedules. It was ultimately an amalgamation of the best features adopted from various constitutions across the globe. However, these features were delicately moderated to meet the needs and aspirations of Independent India. The most important feature of the Indian Constitution, from the perspective of her citizens, is Part III which deals with Fundamental Rights. This Part discusses the relationship of justice and fairness between the State and the citizens. It enhances the rights that all citizens, and in some cases non-citizens, are guaranteed protection against the State's ar...
Stories often have several interpretations including the ones which the author makes while
writing the story and the ones which the readers make through their perception.
Similarly, the laws which are formulated in the legal system can also be
interpreted in different ways depending on the case involved and the issue
which needs to be solved. In the case of law, even if both interpretations are
reasonable, it is important to consider which one aids in solving the issue at
hand more efficiently and in delivering justice to the parties involved. Even
in stories, initially, there are several interpretations but towards the end
of the story, every person limits himself to one interpretation and has reasons
for the same. The same logic is applied even while solving cases in a court
of law. This article gives a brief of the four rules of interpretation and
analyses the cases resolved through the golden rule of interpretation, in
detail.
Interpretation of Statutes- Meaning and Definitions
Salmond defines the interpretation of statutes as “Interpretation or construction is the process by which the courts seek to ascertain the meaning of the legislation through the medium of the authoritative form in which it is expressed.” Courts need to interpret the law logically as per the situation of the case involved to pass a fair judgment. Interpretation of Statues consists of the four rules of interpretation that is, literal rule, mischief rule and golden rule along with the rule of harmonious construction. These rules are applied to ensure that the law is enforced correctly and that the case is resolved smoothly.
The Golden Rule of Interpretation
This rule of interpretation is used to solve problems which are not resolved through the application of the literal rule as well as the mischief rule. The golden rule is the interpretation of the meaning of a statute in a way which it solves the issues of the case at hand. This interpretation can also be opposed to the original statute that was framed or may involve only minute changes. Even if the meaning of the statute is altered, the application of this rule is allowed in law. It is used in the rarest of rare cases and when applied through logical thinking, the golden rule proves to deliver justice in its purest form. Before the application of the Golden Rule, the Literal Rule is applied to the statute based on the facts of the case. If the application of literal rule leads to absurdity, inequality, injustice, hardship or repugnance, then the Golden Rule is applied. Through this, the Court aims at negating the absurdity and efficiently solving the issue. Even if the meaning of the statute is changed while interpreting it through the golden rule, it is not up to the discretion of the court to interpret the statute further than what is required for the issue to be solved. This is important to note as otherwise the application of the golden rule will complicate matters further rather than solving them.
In Uttar Pradesh Bhoodan Yagna Samiti v. Brij Kishore, the term “landless person” as used in Section 14 of U. P. Bhoodan Yagna Act, 1953 was re-defined. This legislation made provisions for the grant of land to landless persons but was limited to “landless labourers”. The Court further said that the term “any landless person” did not include a landless businessman residing in a city. The purpose of the Act was to provide land to labourers who engage in agriculture but do not have land of their own which could assist in their development. The Golden Rule of interpretation was applied, and the scope of the term was narrowed.
In the classic case of Lee
v. Knapp, the driver of a motor vehicle caused an accident and stopped for
a moment near the place of the accident and then he ran away. The driver who
caused the accident interpreted the law literally and only stopped for a second.
As per the requirement of the terms of the law, the driver stopped but not for
a reasonable time as he would have gotten caught if he waited for the authorities
to arrive at the place where the accident took place. He took advantage of the
language of the law and escaped from the place of the accident. According to Section 77(1) of the Road Traffic
Act, 1960, “a driver causing accident shall stop after the accident.” In this case, the Court interpreted the
meaning of the word ‘stop’, by applying
the golden rule, as a reasonable amount of time the person who caused the accident is required
to remain at the place of incidence. The Court further stated that this
reasonable period implies the duration until the officials carry out the
regular inquiry and protocol about the accident. This Act also enables the
officials to provide medical aid to the injured persons in the accident.
In Narendra Kiadivalpa v. Manikrao Patil and Ors, Section 23 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, permitted the inclusion of the name of the person standing for elections in the electoral roll “till the last date of the nomination” for an election in the concerned constituency. Section 33(1) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 specifies that the nomination papers shall be presented between 11am – 3pm of the day. Reading both provisions together, the Court applied the golden rule and interpreted the words “last date” in Section 23 as “last hour of the last date” as interpreting the meaning of the Section literally would lead to absurdity as it may result in the presentation of the nomination papers outside the specified time duration.
Conclusion
The Golden Rule of interpretation proves to be helpful in solving rare cases requiring utmost attention and the lawyer's critical thinking ability. The mentioned case laws aim at explaining the working of the rule and giving a fair idea to the reader as to the type of situations in which the golden rule can be applied. The cases also put a limelight on the situations in which, if the law is interpreted literally, the consequences that would follow would not be very pleasant and would rather lead to more damage than good. As a lawyer, one needs to distinguish between the different rules of interpretation and use them to correctly interpret the law when required.
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