Strict Construction
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
A rule of judicial interpretation or exposition which follows closely the letter of the statute or instrument construed disfavoring any extension or relaxation of it by implication, favor, or equity; a close and conservative adherence to the literal or textual interpretation. It is not the exact converse of "liberal construction," for it does not consist in giving words the narrowest meaning of which they are susceptible.
267 111. 86.