The rule that a penal statute is to be strictly construed shall not apply to this code, any of its provisions, or any offense defined by the laws of this state. All provisions of this code and offenses defined by the laws of this state shall be construed according to the fair import of their terms to promote justice and to effect the objects of the law and general purposes of Section 76-1-104.
Utah Code § 76-1-106
Strict construction rule not applicable
Applied in 19 court decisions — leading case State v. Morrison (2001)
Most recently applied in State v. Lebeau (September 2014)
Enacted by Chapter 196, 1973 General Session
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Utah State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Utah statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.