Construction of Statute

Beneficial legislation was a statute which purported to confer a benefit on individuals or a class of persons by relieving them of onerous obligations under contracts entered into by them or which tend to protect persons against oppressive acts from individuals with whom they stood in certain relations

Curative statutes were those which attempted to correct errors in proceedings particularly which sought to give effect to contracts and other transactions between private persons which otherwise would fail to produce their intended consequences on account of some statutory disability or a failure to comply with some technical requirements

Remedial statutes, on the other hand, were enacted to improve a prior enactment for some of its defects or to reform existing law to meet new situations covered by the enactment

Remedial legislation was made to supply such defects and abridge such superfluities in the Common Law as arose, either from the general imperfection of all human laws, from change of time and circumstances, from the mistake and unadvised determinations of unlearned (and even learned) Judges, or from any other cause whatever

While retroactive legislation is looked upon with disfavour, however, beneficial enactments were to be given liberal construction and retrospective effect if same were curative or remedial

In absence of express words to the contrary, remedial and curative enactments were not ordinarily construed to destroy vested rights, create new liabilities and obligations or disturb past and closed transaction.

Method of construction of statute is not to take particular words and give them a preconceived meaning, which one may have to displace or modify

Statute is to be read as a whole and ask oneself the question, in this statute, in this context, relating to the subject matter, what is the true meaning of the word

Statute is not open to construct as a matter of course, it is open only where language used in Statute requires interpretation i.e. where the Statute is ambiguous or bears two or more constructions or is of such doubtful obscure meaning that reasonable minds might be uncertain or disagree as to its meaning.

Construction of Statute Construction of Statute-Principles of. The golden rule is that the words of statute must prima facie be given their ordinary meaning Court ought to give the words of statute their plain, literal and natural meaning where it does not see from its scope that such meaning would be inconsistent or would lead to manifold injustice.