Judicial interpretation of the law whereby the judge adheres to the literal meaning of the words. Compare with liberal construction which expands the literal meaning of the statute to meet cases that are clearly within the spirit or reason of the law.
a narrow interpretation (as of a writing or legislation) based on a literal or technical understanding of the words used; an interpretation that considers only the literal words of a writing (i.e., teleological interpretation); a construction that considers statutory or contractual words narrowly as in their historical context with highly restrictive readings (i.e., strict interpretation); philosophy underlying of strict interpretation of statutes.
To interpret the Constitution at its specific word and language without taking changes in society, time period and invention into account.
The doctrinal view of judicial construction holding that judges should interpret a document or statute according to its literal terms, without looking to other sources to ascertain the meaning. [ Black's Law Dictionary. 7th ed. 1999
a technique whereby selected portions of a text are read and interpreted literally to support a predetermined position, and conflicting portions of that same text are ignored. Frequently used in conjunction with the Bible and the United States Constitution.
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson held a strict construction of the Constitution claiming Congress was limited to making only laws that were necessary. Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton held a loose construction of the Constitution (implied powers) claiming that Congress had the authority to pass all laws that were proper.