Interpretation of a legal provision and its application to a set of facts

Interpretation of a legal provision and its application to a set of facts—Held, interpretation of a legal provision and its application to a set of facts are two different exercises requiring different approaches—“Interpretation” means the action of explaining the meaning of something—For interpreting a statutory provision, the court is required to have an insight into the provision and unfold its meaning by means of the well-established canons of interpretation, having regard to the object, purpose, historicism of the law and several other well-known factors— But, what is important to bear in mind is that the interpretation of a legal provision is always independent of the facts of any given case—“Application” means the practical use or relevance (of something to something); the application of a statutory provision, therefore, is by definition case related and as opposed to interpretation, the application or non-application of a statutory provision would always depend on the exact facts of a given case—Anyone associated with the process of adjudication fully knows that even the slightest difference in the facts of two cases can make a world of difference on the question whether or not a statutory provision can be fairly and reasonably applied to it. 


File Name:- SC_MAY 2012_2
Citation: - 2012 APEXLAWJOURNAL.COM (S.C.) 561