External Aids to Construction | Explained

Introduction

When internal aids are not adequate, the court has to take recourse to external aids. External Aids may be parliamentary material, historical background, committee or commission reports, official statements, dictionary meanings, foreign decisions, etc.

In Prabhakar Rao and others v. State of A.P. and others[1], O. Chennappa, Reddy J. has 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.

External Aids to Construction

A. Parliamentary History, Historical Facts and Surrounding Circumstances

Historical settings cannot be used as an aid if the words are plain and clear. If the wordings are ambiguous, the historical setting may be considered in order to arrive at the proper construction. The historical setting covers parliamentary history, historical facts, statements of objects and reasons, and reports of expert committees.

Recently, the Supreme Court in R. Chaudhuri v. State of Punjab and others[2], has stated that it is a settled position that debates in the Constituent Assembly may be relied upon as an aid to interpret a constitutional provision because it is the function of the Court to find out the intention of the framers of the Constitution.

B. Social, Political and Economic Developments and Scientific Inventions

A Statute must be interpreted to include circumstances or situations which were unknown or did not exist at the time of enactment of the statute. Any relevant changes in social conditions and technology should be given due weightage. Courts should take into account all these developments while construing statutory provisions.

In P. Gupta v. Union of India[3], it was stated – The interpretation of every statutory provision must keep pace with changing concepts and values, and it must, to the extent to which its language permits or rather does not prohibit, suffer adjustments through judicial interpretation so as to accord with the requirement of the fast-changing society which is undergoing a rapid social and economic transformation

C. Reference to Other Statutes

In the case where two Acts have to be read together, then each part of every act has to be construed as if contained in one composite Act. However, if there is some clear discrepancy, then the latter Act would modify the earlier. Where a single provision of one Act has to be read or added in another, then it has to be read in the sense in which it was originally construed in the first Act. In this way, the whole of the first Act can be mentioned or referred to in the second Act even though only a provision of the first one was adopted.

In the case where an old Act has been repealed, it loses its operative force. Nevertheless, such a repealed part may still be taken into account for construing the unrepealed part. For the purpose of interpretation or construction of a statutory provision, courts can refer to or can take the help of other statutes. It is also known as statutory aid. The General Clauses Act, 1897 is an example of statutory aid. The application of this rule of construction has the merit of avoiding any contradiction between a series of statutes dealing with the same subject. It allows the use of an earlier statute to throw light on the meaning of a phrase used in a later statute in the same context.

On the same logic, when words in an earlier statute have received an authoritative exposition by a superior court, the use of the same words in a similar context in a later statute will give rise to a presumption that the legislature intends that the same interpretation should be followed for construction of those words in the later statute.

D. Dictionaries

When a word is not defined in the statute itself, it is permissible to refer to dictionaries to find out the general sense in which that word is understood in common parlance. However, in the selection of one out of the various meanings of a word, regard must always be had to the scheme, context and legislative history.

E. Judicial Decisions

When judicial pronouncements are being taken as a reference, it should be taken into note that the decisions referred to are Indian. If they are foreign, it should be ensured that such a foreign country follows the same system of jurisprudence as ours and that these decisions have been taken on the ground of the same law as ours.

These foreign decisions have persuasive value only and are not binding on Indian courts, and where guidance is available from binding Indian decisions, reference to foreign decisions is of no use.

F. Other Materials

Similarly, the Supreme Court used information available on the internet for the purpose of interpreting of a statutory provision in Ramlal v. State of Rajasthan[4]. Courts also refer to passages and materials from textbooks, articles, and journal papers.

These external aids are very useful tools for the proper and correct interpretation or construction of the statutory provision and for understanding the object of the statute. The mischief sought to be remedied by it, the circumstances in which it was enacted and many other relevant matters. In the absence of the admissibility of these external aids, sometimes the court may not be in a position to do justice in a case.

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Contributed by – Shradha Arora, CNLU Patna

[1] AIR 1986 SC 120

[2] (2001) 7 SCC 126 [4]

[3] AIR 1982 SC 149

[4] (2001) 1 SCC 175

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