What is the purpose of the Code Construction Act?

• A. Aid in understanding statutes, provide guidance on construction of words and phrases, help courts to ascertain and enforce the legislative intent of statutes
• B. To punish offenders
• C. To create new statutes
• D. To reorganize court procedures

Answer: (A)

Understanding how statutes are read is the key idea here. The Code Construction Act provides the framework for interpreting statutes, laying out the rules for how words and phrases should be read and how to determine what the legislature intended when it wrote the law. This guidance helps courts apply statutes consistently and enforce legislative intent.

It’s not about punishing offenders, creating new statutes, or reworking court procedures. Those tasks belong to criminal enforcement, lawmaking processes, and procedural or administrative rulemaking, respectively. The act specifically addresses interpretation and construction, offering tools like how to treat ambiguous language, how to harmonize provisions, and how to apply defined terms, so statutes are applied as intended by the legislature.