Shobe_CEO » Statutory Construction, here we come…

Statutory Construction, here we come…

August 17th, 2007 Shobe_ceo

Finally…after 3 resets for the midterm schedule on Statutory Construction, the agony is going to end today…so what does Construction mean? Nahh..not the building…Statutory Construction, as defined in Caltex vs. Palomar, is “an art or process of discovering and expounding the meaning and intention of the authors of the law with respect to its application to a given case, where the intention is rendered doubtful, by reason of the fact that the given case is not explicitly provided for in law.”

The minds of our legislators are but finite and cannot encompass all possible cases into the statutes or laws they enact, thus, there are times where the law is ambiguous in its applicability to certain cases, and so we need construction and interpretation. Laurel’s book on Statutory Construction defines construction as “the drawing of conclusions with respect to subjects that are beyond the direct expressions of the text, from the elements known and given in the text, while interpretation is the process of discovering the true meaning of the language used.” The interpretation goes to explain and dig deeper the meaning of the text or languages used while construction goes beyond the language and tries to see the intent of the framers and whether the case falls within the ambit of the law.

The very long case of Francisco, Jr. vs. Nagmamalasakit ng mga Manananggol ng mga Manggagawang Pilipino, Inc. points out the steps in interpreting the content of laws, namely, (1) Verba Legis or the plain meaning of the text as how a normal individual would interpret and understand it, (2) Ratio Legis Est Anima or through digging up the intent of the framers when they constructed the law, (3) Ut Magis Valeat Quam Pereat, meaning the Constitution is to be interpreted as a whole and other parts of the Constitution must be looked upon in order to see the real meaning and intent of a law, and lastly, (4) it may be determined by looking through the plethora of cases or jurisprudence as to how such law was interpreted.

Statutory Construction is trying to listen to what the law really tell.

Entry Filed under: Atenista,For the Mind,Life of Law