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[8]
The third
method becomes operative when we find something
in the actual words of the law which enables us to
prove that the intention of the legislator was different.
[p. 141]
The following theme will provide an example. “Anyone who is caught at night with steel in his hands
shall be thrown into prison. A man is found wearing a steel ring, and is imprisoned by the magistrate.”
In this case the use of the word caught is sufficient
proof that the word steel was only intended by the
law in the sense of a weapon of offence.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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