Contemporanea Expositio

Black's Law Dictionary

Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910

Lat. Contemporaneous exposition or construetion; a construction drawn from the time when, and the circumstancos under which, the subject-matter to be construed, as a statute or custom, originated. Contemporanea expositio est optima et fortissima in lege. Contemporancous exposition is the best and strongest in the law. 2 Inst. 11. A statute is best explained by following the construction put upon it by judges who lived at the time it was made, or soon after. 10 Coke, 70; Broom, Max. 682.

A New Law Dictionary and Glossary

Alexander M. Burrill · 1850

Lat. Contemporaneous exposition, or construction; a construction drawn from the time when, and the circumstances under which the subject matter to be construed, as a statute or custom, originated. Contemporanea expositio est optima et fortissima in lege. Contemporaneous exposition is the best and strongest in the law. 2 Inst. 11. A statute is best explained by following the construction put upon it by judges who lived at the time it was made, or soon after. Id. ibid. and 136, 181. 10 Co. 70. 1 Wooddes. Lect. xxxi, xxxii. Broom's Max. 300. A contemporaneous exposition even of the constitution of the United States, practised and acquiesced in for a period of years, fixes the construction. 1 Cranch's R. 299. 1 Kent's Com. 464, 465. Construction may also be by acts as well as formal exposition, and hence the rule that ancient instruments may be construed by ancient usage, as constituting the best evidence of the intention of the parties. Lord Hardwicke, C., 2 Atk. 577. Broom's Max. 300. 2 Smith's Lead. Cas. 295.