- GOLDEN RULE -

REGARD TO
CONSEQUENCES
 Regard to Consequences

A modification of the literal rule

Judge is allowed to depart from a normal meaning

Only to avoid absurd consequences

Regard to Consequences
Hardship
Absurdity
or Anomaly

Golden Serious
Inconvenien
Rule ce
purports
to avoid
Inconsistenc such
y or results
Uncertainty
Creates
friction in
the system
Golden rule comes in between the two
rules but is not a compromise between
them

Literal
Golden
Mischief
 Circumstances of use

Golden rule When

gives plain words
…then the judge
words their plain,
give irrational
may depart from
ordinary meaningresults… this meaning

Something which was unlikely to be the

legislative intention
 History and evolution
The rule is usually based on part of Becke v Smith
(1836) per Justice Park, which states:

It is a very useful rule in the construction of a statute to

adhere to the ordinary meaning of the words used, and
to the grammatical construction, unless that is at
variance with the intention of the legislature to be
collected from the statute itself, or leads to any manifest
absurdity or repugnance, in which case the language
may be varied or modified so as to avoid such
inconvenience but no further.
 History and evolution
Becke v. Smith (1836) Justice Park

Grey v. Pearson (1857) Lord Wensleydale

Hardship, Injustice, Absurdity, Anomaly,

Inconvenience, Repugnance to be Avoided
Sensible Interpretation Rule
To avoid hardship,
departure
permitted

Sensible
interpretation that
least affects our
sense of justice

Modification of the
word as well as
sentence structure
is permitted
 For Instance…

U.P. Zamindari Abolition Court construed it as

& Land Reforms Act, 1950 meaning ‘lawfully held’

There is a presumption that law makers enact laws which

the society considers as honest, fair and reasonable
 Another instance…

The ●
‘Whosoever being married shall
marry another person during
provision the life of the former husband or
reads… wife’ is guilty of bigamy.

Interpretatio ●
The word ‘former’ may mean that the
n of the original marriage no longer exists.
But then the person marrying again
word
●

would not be guilty of bigamy.

‘former’
 Interpretation of the Court

A person who purports to

marry another while his/her
wife or husband is still alive is
guilty of bigamy.
Lee v. Knapp, (1966), 3 All ER 961
 Lee v. Knapp
Constructio ●
Stopping temporarily
n of the would not fulfill the
word “stop” intent of the provision.

Sensible ●
The driver of the vehicle shall stop it and
meaning of remain where he has stopped it for a
reasonable period of time so as to be able
the word to provide information as required from
him under the section.
“Stop”
 The Court arriving at the decision
Literal reading of the Hence golden rule
word ‘stop’ would of interpretation
create absurdity to be adopted

Therefore...
A momentary
pause will not
exempt the driver

Sec. envisaged
Modification to be
necessity of stopping
done to live up to the
for providing
information
intent of the statute
Central India Spinning Weaving & Manufacuring Co.
Nagpur v. Mun. Comm., Wardha, 1958 SCR 1102

Sec. 66(1) of the ●

Authorized imposition of
Central Provinces
terminal tax on goods or animals
and Berar
‘imported into or exported from’
Municipalities
Act, 1922
the limits of a Municipality.

●
Whether the said clause
Issue empowered the Municipality to
levy a tax on goods in transit?
 The High Court
Arrived at a derivative
meaning of the word ‘import’
and ‘export’ i.e. to bring in and
to carry away and therefore
held that the municipality had
the power to levy tax on goods
in transit.
Ef f ec t of the HC’s r uling would
Ordinary
understa
stat ion within
m unic ‘export’
and
commercia l
m ake tr ansit through a r ailway
nding
t he lim of
ipalit y liable do
it s of‘import’
t o imnot
t ax on the ir ar r ival as well as
to goods
de part ure . in tra nsit.
a
positrefer
ion of
The Supreme Court held
He
nce
,
co
m
me
rci
al
me
ani
ng
to
be
ap
plie
d
ove
r
der
iva
tive
me
ani
ng,
to
avo
id
abs
urd
ity.
 V.V. Shivprasad v. Kothuri
Venkateshwarlu, AIR 2000 SC 434

Prohibits
Madras
Hindu
Hindu
Widows
(Bigamy
Remarriage
Prevention)
Act, Act,
18561949
Bigamy

Widow’s rights on her

deceased husband’s property
ceases on her remarriage
Functioning of the two legislations
 V.V.Shivprasad v. Kothuri
Venkateshwarlu

Still, it was held that such a marriage

amounted to ‘re-marriage’ within Sec.2
of the 1856 Act and the widow ceased to
hold any rights in the property of her
deceased husband.
The Court: Sensible Meaning has to be
given

This right crystallizes

The Act prevents only when the marriage
double benefit is valid
Avoid Construction which leads to
anomalies

The
Language
Parliame
anomaly is
nt could
Clear &cansusceptibl
be
not obviated
have e to
gross
envisaged
without
modificati
anomaly
such
detriment
on to cure
anomaly
to leg.the
objective
anomaly
Bhatia International v. Bulk Trading SA,
AIR 2002 SC 1432

Part- I
Sec.2(2) ●
This part shall
Arbitratio
apply where the
n&
Conciliatio
place of arbitration
n Act, is in India.
1996
 The various High Courts
The High Courts of Bombay,
Orissa, Madras, Delhi and
Calcutta took the view that
Part-I of the Act does not apply
where the place of arbitration
is not in India.
The Supreme Court in Bhatia
International
 The Court concluded
“Where such arbitration is held in India the
provisions of Part- I would compulsorily apply
and parties are free to deviate only to the extent
permitted by the derogable provisions of Part-I.”

In cases of international commercial arbitrations

held out of India provisions of Part-I would apply
unless the parties by agreement express or
implied exclude all or any of its provisions.
Nyadar Singh v. Union of India, AIR 1988 SC
1979

●
Pursuant to disciplinary
proceedings the penalty of
‘reduction in rank’ was
The imposed on the appellants,
reducing them to a post lower
Matter than the one to which they
were directly and initially
recruited.
 Rule 11 (VI) of the Central Services (Classification,
Appeal and Control) Rules, 1965

Empowers the imposition of

the penalty of “reduction to a
lower time scale of pay, grade,
post, or service”.
 Contentions of the Parties
The Appellants The Respondents
Due to the penalty, they The word ‘reduction in
were reduced in rank to rank’ is distinct from
posts lower than the one ‘reversion’ as the
to which they were former was imposed by
initially recruited. way of penalty.
 Hence, reduction in rank
Hence, inappropriate to a post below the one
construction. that the appellant
initially held was
appropriate.
‘Reversion’ & ‘Reduction’ in post

Reduction

Reduction in rank extends even to

Wider than reversion a rank which the officer
concerned never held.
 The Supreme Court noted
Red A
ILLUSTRATION

Recruitment Policy

Prevent absurdity
ucti wid
on e
mea me
ns
ani
and
refe ng
rs of
to the
pro wor
mot d
iona ‘re
l duc
post tion
s, ’
othe
doe
rwis
e s
the not
poli get
cy alo
of ng
recr wit
uit h
men the
t
lar
itsel
ger
f
will sch
bec em
ome e of
mea thin
ning gs
less, wit
hen hin
ce the
pro
poli
duci
ng
cy
abs of
urd rec
resu ruit
lts. me
nt.
 Therefore…the court held
A person initially recruited to a higher time scale,
grade, post or service cannot be reduced to a post
in a lower time-scale, grade, post or service or to
a lower post.

Though the language of the rule is wide, a

restricted construction was placed to avoid the
anomaly which a wider construction would have
produced.
Sardar Amarjit Singh Kalra v. Pramod
Gupta, (2003) 3 SCC 272
The Constitution Bench of the Supreme
Court observed
“Laws of procedure are meant to regulate effectively,
assist and aid the object of doing substantial and real
justice and not to foreclose even an adjudication on the
merits of substantial rights of citizens. Procedure has
always been viewed as the handmaid of justice and not
meant to hamper the cause of justice.”
“Technical objections which tend to be stumbling
blocks to defeat and delay substantial and effective
justice should be strictly viewed for being discouraged
except when mandate of the law inevitably necessitates
it.”
 S.Narayanswami v. G.
Pannerselvam

●
The appellant contested and won
election to the Madras Legislative
FACTS Council from the Madras District
Graduates’ Constituency.

●
Whether he was qualified to
ISSUE stand for election to the
Graduates’ Constituency.
 The High Court

Set aside the election by

holding that the appellant
didn’t possess the requisite
educational qualifications.
 Observations of the Supreme
Court

It is a body of For elections to each

Graduates are house, the
persons with
not an Parliament has
particular prescribed separate
occupational or
educational qualifications for
vocational group
qualifications elector & elected
 Observations of the Supreme Court
Legislative Council Elections qualifications in Art.171(3)

Electorate: - It is a body of persons who elect

Enumerates functional or occupational representation in a heterogeneous group

Observations of the Supreme
Court

The High Court erroneously travelled outside

the four corners of the statutory provisions
when there was no ambiguity at all in the
language, and by resorting to a presumed
legislative intent, it added a qualification to
those expressly laid down in the Constitution
and other statutory provisions contravening
the rule of plain meaning.
Decision of the Supreme Court
Therefore, election
of Appellant is
valid in law

No absurdity
results if we
presume such
intention

A deliberate omission of Language used is

the requirement that the
plain and history of
representative of the
Graduates should also be Art.171 clearly
a graduate. gives us intention
Applying the rule with caution
Consideration of
hardship etc. must
be applied with
great care

Individual cases of
hardship have no
bearing only
general hardship

Inconvenience not
only great but
“absurd” or ab
inconvenienti.
 Applying the rule with caution

Individual cases of hardship or injustice

have no bearing for rejecting natural
construction, and it is only when the natural
construction leads to a general hardship or
injustice and some other construction is
reasonably open that the natural
construction may be departed from.
***