Question of law - Indian Laws - General

Expression question of law On a textual interpretation, the expression question of law is defined in the Black s Law Dictionary as follows: 1. An issue to be decided by the judge, concerning the application or interpretation of the law ; 2. A question that the law itself has authoritatively answered, so that the Court may not answer it as a matter of discretion; 3. An issue about what the law is on a particular point; an issue in which parties argue about, and the court must decide what the true rule of law is; 4. An issue that, although it may turn on a factual point, is reserved for the court and excluded from the jury; an issue that is exclusively within the province of the judge and not the jury Black s Law Dictionary , 10th Edition p. 1442 Reference to Law Dictionary for the meaning of the expression question of law is not to overlook the difficulty in drawing boundaries between questions of law and fact. Under the subject, the malleable boundaries between law and fact, H.W.R Wade has commented: Much of the discussions of this chapter proceeds on the basis that the distinction between a question of law and a question of fact is self-evident. But this is not so; the boundary is often elusive. H.R.W. Wade C.F Forsyth, Administrative Law , Chapter 8 (Oxford University Publication, United Kingdom, 11th Edn, 2014) Phrases such as, question of law , are open textual expressions, used in statutes to convey a certain meaning which the legislature would not have intended to be read in a pedantic manner. When words of the Sections allow narrow as well as wide interpretations, courts of law have developed the art and technique of finding the correct meaning by looking at the words in their context. In Reserve Bank of India v. Peerless General Finance Investment Company Ltd. Ors. Reserve Bank of India vs. Peerless General Finance Investment Company Ltd. Ors.- 1987 (1) TMI 452 - SUPREME COURT , Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy, observed: 33. Interpretation must depend on the text and the context. They are the bases of interpretation. One may well say if the text is the texture, context is what gives the colour. Neither can be ignored. Both are important. That interpretation is best which makes the textual interpretation match the contextual. A statute is best interpreted when we know why it was enacted. With this knowledge, the statute must be read, first as a whole and then section by section, clause by clause, phrase by phrase and word by word. If a statute is looked at, in the context of its enactment, with the glasses of the statute-maker, provided by such context, its scheme, the sections, clauses, phrases and words may take colour and appear different than when the stature is looked at without the glasses provided by the context. With these glasses we must look at the Act as a whole and discover what each section, each clause, each phrase and each word is meant and designed to say as to fit into the scheme of the entire Act. No part of a statute and no word of a statute can be construed in isolation. Statutes have to be construed so that every word has a place and everything is in its place SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA VERSUS MEGA CORPORATION LIMITED- 2022 (3) TMI 1226 - SUPREME COURT