First Principles of Business Law

6.5. Specially defined words

Sometimes, the persons who are drafting legislation wish to give words a very particular meaning, rather than the meaning usually given to such words.

To achieve this, special definitions of those words are included in the Act itself. These special definitions override the meaning that might otherwise attach to those words. The special definitions of words or phrases are usually collected together in what are called 'definitions sections'.

These sections are usually found near the beginning of the Act, or at the start of the different Parts of an Act. This makes them easy to find. It is essential to check for definition sections in an Act when deciding what particular words may mean.

 Click here to see an example of a definitions section.