Introduction

The term interpretation means “To give meaning to”. Governmental power has been divided into
three wings namely the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Interpretation of statues to
render justice is the primary function of the judiciary. It is the duty of the Court to interpret the
Act and give meaning to each word of the Statute.

The most common rule of interpretation is that every part of the statute must be understood in a
harmonious manner by reading and construing every part of it together. The maxim “A Verbis
legis non est recedendum” means that you must not vary the words of the statute while
interpreting it.

The object of interpretation of statutes is to determine the intention of the legislature conveyed
expressly or impliedly in the language used. In Santi swarup Sarkar v pradeep kumar sarkar1,
the Supreme Court held that if two interpretations are possible of the same statute, the one which
validates the statute must be preferred.

“The Preamble of the statue,” said Coke, “is a good means to find out the meaning of the
statute, and as it were a key to open the understanding thereof. The preamble states the main
objective, purpose and intention of the law makers. Preamble is the introductory part of a statue
or act of parliament which states the intent and reasons of law. Every statute or act of parliament
must start with a preamble which shows the intent or we may say the basic criteria for enactment
which cannot be violated. It indicates the principles as guidelines by the framers of the
constitution. It is not the part of the constitutions as article. It is merely a statement affined to a
statute indicating the principles used as guidelines by its framers. No reading of any Constitution
can be complete without reading Preamble from the beginning to the end. While the end may
expand, or alter, the point of commencement can never change .It is the Preamble wherefrom the
Constitution commences.

The Act Starts with a preamble and is generally small. The main objective and purpose of the
Act are found in the Preamble of the Statute. “Preamble is the Act in a nutshell. It is a
preparatory statement. It contains the recitals showing the reason for enactment of the Act. If the
language of the Act is clear the preamble must be ignored. The preamble is an intrinsic aid in the
interpretation of an ambiguous act.

In Kashi Prasad v State2, the court held that even though the preamble cannot be used to defeat
the enacting clauses of a statute, it can be treated as a key for the interpretation of the statute.

1
AIR 1997 Cal 197
2
1980 BB CJ 612
VARIOUS CASE LAWS WHICH HELPS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNAL
AIDS TO INTERPRETATION

Recently, again Supreme Court in Grasim Industries Ltd. V Collector of Customs,

Bombay, 3has followed the same principle and observed:

Where the words are clear and there is no obscurity, and there is no ambiguity and the intention
of the legislature is clearly conveyed, there is no scope for court to take upon itself the task of
amending or altering the statutory provisions.

Recently, in District Mining Officer and others v Tata Iron & Steel Co. and another,4 Supreme
Court has observed:

“It is also a cardinal principle of construction that external aids are brought in by widening the
concept of context as including not only other enacting provisions of the same statute, but its
preamble, the existing state of law, other statutes in pari materia and the mischief which the
statute was intended to remedy.”

In Wilson v. Secretary of state for trade and Industry,5

The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement
completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human
Rights Act since it deprived the respondent of its property rights. It was also argued that it was
not possible to make a declaration of incompatibility in respect of matters arising from events
before the coming into force of the 1998 Act.

Held: Parliament cannot have intended that section 3(1) should have the effect of altering the
parties’’ existing and obligations under the Consumer Credit Act. In this transition type of case,
section 3(1) is inapplicable to the interpretation of the Consumer Credit Act, and the court had no
jurisdiction to make a declaration of incompatibility. The court is not required to evaluate the
effect of primary legislation in terms of convention rights and, where appropriate, to make a
formal declaration of incompatibility. The court was entitled for the purpose of interpretation to
look at ministerial statements but not generally at parliamentary debates to establish the purpose
of the Act under consideration, and in doing so it was neither encroaching upon parliamentary
privilege nor questioning the proceeding of parliament.

3
(2002)4 SCC 297
4
(2001)7 SCC 358.
5
UKHL 40, [2003] 3 WLR 568,
 Nature of a Preamble

Preamble is not legally enforceable. It states principles and a brief statement. All the principles
laid down in the preamble find expression in the enactment and provide a guiding light, true
appreciation and understanding of document.

PREAMBLE

The Preamble of the statue like the long title is a part of the act and is an admissible aid to
construction, the preamble express the scope, object and purpose of the act. It may be recite the
ground and cause of making the statue, the evil sought to be remedied, or the doubts which may
be intended to be settled in words of Sir John Nichol

“It is to the preamble more specially we are to look for the reason or the spirit of every statue,
rehearsing this as it ordinarily does, the evils sought to be remedied, or the doubts purported to
be removed by the statue, and so evidencing, in best and most satisfactory manner, the object or
intention of legislature in making or passing the statue itself.”6

THE PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION

A preamble helps in interpreting the provisions of the constitution. It can be looked at when
some article is ambiguous. It also explains the object of the constitution. While summing up, it
can be said that a preamble is introduction of an enactment. Although it is not an integral part of
the constitution, it explains introduction, reasons, intent and scope of the constitution. The
Preamble when analyzed can be divided into three parts by reference to its qualitative
characteristics. The first part is declaratory, where by the people of India in their Constituent
Assembly adopted, enacted and gave to themselves this Constitution. That is the Constitution of
India7. The second part is revolutionary, whereby the people of India solemnly resolved to
Constitute India into a Sovereign Democratic, Republic “We, the people of India, having
solemnly resolved in our constituent assembly this 26th Nov.1949” is a matter of history or the
past and proposals to place on record an event which has already happened. Each and Every
word of the Preamble has been cautiously chosen. Even the arrangement of the words- the order,
in which they have been placed-is not without significance and suggestion. The Preamble to the
Constitution has played a predominant role in shaping the destiny of the country. The Preamble
of the Constitution like the preamble of any statute furnish the key to open the mind of the

6
Brett v Brett, (1826) 162 ER 456, p. 458- 459
7
Keshavananda Bharati V. State of Kerala
makers of the Constitution more so because the Constituent Assembly took great pains in
formulating it so that it may reflect the essential features and basic objectives of the Constitution.
The opinion of K.K Mathew J. said that the preamble stands part of the constitution and there
seems to be no valid reason why the Preamble, being a part of the constitution, cannot be
amended. The framers of the Constitution of India set out three broad purposes preamble: First,
they sought to constitute India into a „Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic‟. India is
Republic because the head of the state is not hereditary monarch. It is Democratic because the
Constitution ensures the creation and existence of the government at the will of the people
through the participation in the formation of the government at regular intervals on the principle
of universal adult franchise. It is Sovereign because it can make or unmake any decision with
respect to itself without interference by any other country.

The drafting committee of constituent assembly formulated the preamble in the light of objective
resolution but restricted it to defining the essential feature of a new state and its basic socio
political objectives. The preamble of constitution like any preamble of any statue furnishes the
key to open the mind of the maker of the constitution more so because the constitution assembly
took great pain in formulating it so that it may reflect the essential feature and basic objectives of
the constitution. The constitution including preamble must be read as a whole and in case of
doubt interpreted consistent with its basic structure to promote the great objectives stated in the
preamble.8

The preamble as a whole can never be regarded as a source of substantive power or as a source
of any prohibition or limitation.9The preamble of the constitution amendment act can be used to
understand the object of the amendment.10 The majority judgement in Keshavananda bharti11 and
Minerava Mills12 strongly relied upon the preamble in reaching the conclusion that the power of
amendment confer by article 368 was limited and did not enable parliament to alter the basic
structure or framework of the constitution.13

By Sec. 2 of the constitution amendment act 1976 two amendments were made by the
parliaments in the preamble wherein the words ‘sovereign, democratic, republic’ were replaced
by the words ‘sovereign socialist secular democratic’ were substituted and secondly for the
words unity of India the words unity and integrity of nations were substituted. These
amendments were to be held valid in Minerva Mills’s case. The addition of the word socialist
enables the court to lean more in favour of nationalisation and economic equality.14

8
Keshavanada Bharti v State of Karnataka AIR 1973 SC 1461, Minerva Mills v Union of India AIR 1980 SC 1789
9
Indira Nehru Gandhi v. RajNarain AIR 1975 SC 2299, this has also been reiterated in Raghu nath Rao GanpathRao
v. Union Of India AIR 1993 SC 1267
10
Raghu nath Rao GanpathRao v. Union Of India AIR 1993 SC 1267
11
Supra Note 21
12
Ibid
13
Ibid
14
JUSTICE G.P. SINGH, “THE PRINCIPLE OF INTERPRETATION OF STATUE”11th Ed., (2008)
Lord Somervell has stated

“The principle that the preamble differs in their scope and consequently in the weight, if any,
which they may have on one side or the other of the dispute. There can be no rule. If in an act the
preamble is general or brief statement of the main purpose, it, may well be of little, if any, value.
The act may say to go beyond or in some respect fall short of the purpose so briefly stated.”

Role of Preamble as Stated by Judges

 Khanna, J., set out the utilities of the Preamble from the point of views of interpretation of
the Constitution or, statutes:-
 Reference can be made to the Preamble for the purpose of construing when the words of
a statute or the Constitution are ambiguous and are admitted; and
 The Preamble can also be used to shed light on and clarify obscurity in the language of a
statutory or, constitutional provision.
 When, however, the language of a section or article is plain and suffers from no
ambiguity or obscurity, no gloss can be put on the words of the section or article by
invoking the Preamble.
 Jaganmohan Reddy, J., the utility of the Preamble in interpreting the Constitution in-depth
,is clear from the opinion of jurists on the following aspects:- The Preamble is a key to open
the mind of the makers as to the mischief‟s, which are to be remedied;
 That it is properly resorted to, where doubts or ambiguities are arise upon the words of
the enacting part;
 Even where the words are clear and unambiguous, it can be used to prevent an „obvious
absurdity‟ or to a direct overthrow of the intention expressed in the Preamble ,and it
would be much more so, if they were ambiguous;
 There is no reason why, in fundamental law or Constitution of the government, an equal
attention should not be given to the intention of the framers, as stated in the Preamble.
 The Preamble can never be resorted to , to enlarge the powers expressly given ,nor to
substantively create any power or to imply a power which is otherwise withdrawn from
the Constitution ;and
 Its true function is to „expound the nature, extent and application of the powers‟,
actually conferred by the Constitution