Construction of ambiguous context
Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case Chen v. Hoeflinger (2012)
Most recently applied in Home & Community Services of Hawai'i, Inc. v. Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (January 2016)
CC 1859, §10; RL 1925, §10; RL 1935, §11; RL 1945, §10; am L 1955, c 57, §1(c); RL 1955, §1-18; HRS §1-15
Where the words of a law are ambiguous:
(1) The meaning of the ambiguous words may be sought by examining the context, with which the ambiguous words, phrases, and sentences may be compared, in order to ascertain their true meaning.
(2) The reason and spirit of the law, and the cause which induced the legislature to enact it, may be considered to discover its true meaning.
(3) Every construction which leads to an absurdity shall be rejected.
Official source: Hawaii State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Hawaii statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.