When the literal rule produces an absurd, repugnant, or inconsistent result, courts may depart from the strict grammatical meaning while staying as close as possible to the plain words. This is known as the golden rule. Justice G. P. Singh explains that “the golden rule is that the words of a statute must prima facie be given their ordinary meaning.” However, if reading the words in their primary and natural sense would lead to repugnance or inconsistency with the rest of the instrument, the grammatical and ordinary sense may be modified so as to avoid that absurdity and inconsistency.
For the common usage of words at the time of enactment. principles of statutory interpretation gp singh high quality