Report No. 60

1.5. Importance of uniformity.-

One of the objects of the Act, as already pointed out above, is to shorten the language of statutes and to achieve, as far as possible, uniformity of expression in such language. Its importance is evident from what Bentham said1:

"The language of error is always obscure and indefinite. An abundance of words serves to cover a paucity and a falsity of ideas. The often terms are changed, the easier it is to delude the reader. The language of truth is uniform and simple. The same ideas are always expressed by the same terms."

But for the control exercised by the General Clauses Act over statutory language, it would have been a "free for all" affair so far as the use, meaning and interpretation of words and language in our statute law are concerned.

1. Bentham Theory of Legislation, (Hildreth's Ed.), (1904), p. 87.