Context: Both Internal and External
It true when a word has been defined in the interpretation clause, prima facie that definition governs wherever that word is used the body of the Statute unless the context requires otherwise. The context is both internal and external. The internal context requires the interpreter to situate the disputed words within the section of which they are part and in relation to the rest of the Act. The external context involves determining the meaning from ordinary linguistic usage (including any special technical meanings) from the purpose for which the provision was passed, and from the place of the provisions within the general scheme of statutory and common law rules and principles.
4.4Every word/provision to be read in context.
In matters of interpretation one should not concentrate too much on one word and pay too little attention to the other words. No provision in the statute and noword in the section may be construed in isolation. Every provision and every word must be looked at generally and in the context in which it is used[1].
In the matter of C.I.T. Vs. Sun Engineering works (P) Ltd, Justice Anand (As His Lordship then was), speaking for the Court, has said that it is neither desirable nor permissible to pick out a word or a sentence from the Judgment of the Court, divorced from the context of the question under consideration and treat it to be the complete `law' declared by the Supreme Court. The judgment must be read as a whole and the observations from the judgment have to be considered in the light of the questions which were before the Supreme Court. The decision on the question involved in the case in which it is rendered and while applying the decision to the later case, the Courts must carefully try to ascertain the true principle laid down by the decision and not to pick out words or sentence.
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