STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

ByNESTOR P. MONDOK

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

DEFINITION: it is the act or process of ascertaining the intention of the authors of the law with respect to its application to a given case, where the intention is rendered doubtful, among others, by

reason of the fact that the given case is not explicitly provided for in the law.

•Act or process•Ascertaining• Intention of author of the law•Ambiguity

Legal Hermeneutics

•Branch of science/jurisprudence•Establish rules, principles, 0n• Interpretation or construction• Legal text or document

Exegesis

•Application•Principle, rules, etc. of legal hermeneutics•Given case

TWO PROCESSES

INTERPRETATION

• INTRINSIC AID - those found in the law

itself.

CONSTRUCTION

•EXTRINSIC AID - those found outside

the language of the law.

INTRINSIC AID

•DEFINITION- It is what you see in the law itself and includes the following:•Title•Preamble•Words, phrases, and sentences, context•Punctuations•Heading and marginal notes• Legislative definition and interpretationNote: The different parts of a law and their functions.

EXTRINSIC AIDS•Definition- It is what you see outside the four corners of

the law which includes the following:•Contemporaneous circumstances•Policy• Legislative history of the statute.•Contemporaneous and practical construction•Executive construction• Legislative construction• Judicial construction•Construction by the BAR and Legal Commentators

Art or process of statutory construction

ambiguityinterpretation

construction

Intrinsic aid principle

Extrinsic aid principle

Intention

Legal hermeneuticsprinciples

Exegesis

APPLICATION

Facts of the case Law/Principle Decision

Law as interpreted or

construed

P1 P2