Dictionaries and text books

Vande Matram! Interpretation of Statute is very important skill which every law professional must possess. Hence it is incorporated in the degree course of law. Let’s discuss how are the dictionaries and text books used to interpret a statute?

Dictionaries and text books:

The meaning of particular words in an Indian statute is to be found not so much in a strict etymological propriety of language nor even in popular sense, as in the subject or occasion on which they used. But it is well known that words are generally used in their ordinary sense and therefore, though dictionaries are not to be taken as authoritative in regard to the meanings of the words used in statutes, they may be consulted.

The use of dictionaries is limited to circumstances where the judges and Counsels use different words. In such cases the court may make use of standard authors and well known authoritative dictionaries. e.g. Merriam Webster Dictionary

Text books may also be refereed to for assistance in finding out the true construction of a statute. e.g. Transfer of Property Act, 1882 Commentary by Mulla.

Judgment:

Voltas Ltd. v. Rolta India Ltd. (2014) 4 SCC 516

In Voltas Ltd. v. Rolta India Ltd., the Supreme Court has held that: “Dictionaries can hardly be taken as authoritative exponents of the meanings of the words used in legislative enactments for the plainest words may be controlled by a reference to the context. Similarly, Lexicons would only define an expression in terms of a decision given by a Court of Law, and unless this decision was given under the Act in which the expression is used "it involves" in the words of Ram Lal,J. in Frim Karam Narain Daulat Ram v. Colkart Bros., A.I.R. 1946 Lah (F.B) pp.116, 128" a dangerous method of interpretation."

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