Bouvier Law Dictionary Ambiguity (Ambiguous or Ambiguousness)

Ambiguity (Ambiguous or Ambiguousness)

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Stephen Michael Sheppard

Ambiguity (Ambiguous or Ambiguousness)

Availability of more than one meaning. Ambiguity is the potential in a text or in speech to have more than one sense.
Ambiguity is probably inherent in all language, and so it is a matter of degree. As a legal matter, a text will be considered
ambiguous to the extent that a reader can reasonably interpret one meaning but a different reader could reasonably
interpret a different meaning from the same words. Patent ambiguity is obvious from the words alone, but latent ambiguity
arises from the application of the words in context. Once a text is found to be legally ambiguous, a variety of tools of
interpretation become available that are not generally used for an unambiguous text. Ambiguous contracts, wills, and trust
instruments are interpreted according to parol evidence that might otherwise be excluded. Rules of interpretation specially
apply to ambiguous instruments: ambiguous insurance contracts, for instance, are read in the light more favorable to the
insured. Ambiguous statutes are read in the light less likely to cause constitutional conflict, more likely to accomplish the
general aims of the legislature in enacting the statute, and with some deference to the interpretations of an agency tasked
with its performance. Ambiguous criminal statutes are read with lenity.

Derivation: Bouvier, 1853, AMBIGUITY, contracts, construction. When an expression has been used in an instrument of
writing which may be understood in more than one sense, it is said there is an ambiguity.

2. There are two sorts of ambiguities of words, ambiguitas latens and ambiguitas patens.

3. The first occurs when the deed or instrument is sufficiently certain and free from ambiguity, but the ambiguity is
produced by something extrinsic, or some collateral matter out of the instrument; for example, if a man devise property to
his cousin AB, and he has two cousins of that name, in such case parol evidence will be received to explain the ambiguity.

4. The second or patent ambiguity occurs when a clause in a deed, will, or other instrument, is so defectively expressed,
that a court of law, which has to put a construction on the instrument, is unable to collect the intention of the party. In such
case, evidence of the declaration of the party cannot be admitted to explain his intention, and the clause will be void for its
uncertainty. In Pennsylvania, this rule is somewhat qualified. 3 Binn. 587;4 Binn. 482. Vide generally, Bac. Max. Reg. 23;
1 Phil. Ev. 410 to 420; 3 Stark. Ev. 1021; 1 Com. Dig. 575; Sudg. Vend. 113. The civil law on this subject will be found in
Dig. lib. 50, t. 17, l. 67; lib. 45, t. 1, l. 8; and lib, 22, t. 1, l. 4.

Usage: At best, this conflict between §1229a and §1231(a) (5) renders the INA ambiguous. In cases of statutory
ambiguity, we defer to any reasonable interpretation given to the statute by the agency charged with administering its
terms. Lorenzo v. Mukasey, 508 F.3d 1278, 1283 (10th Cir. 2007) (Baldock, J.).
 Bouvier Law Dictionary Ambiguity (Ambiguous or Ambiguousness)

Ambiguity is an entirely distinct concept. A word may have two entirely different connotations, so that it may be at the
same time both appropriate and inappropriate. E. Allan Farnsworth, Contracts §7.8 (1st ed. 1982).

See also: Contract, Contract Interpretation, Contract Ambiguity (Ambiguous Contract); Gharar.

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