Haw. Rev. Stat. § 1-15
This is the official text of Haw. Rev. Stat. § 1-15, part of Hawaii’s Rev. Stat — part of the compiled statutory law of Hawaii, published by the state as "Rev. Stat." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
Construction of ambiguous context.
Official statutory text
Where the words of a law are ambiguous:
(1) The meaning of the ambiguous words may be sought by examining the context, with which the ambiguous words, phrases, and sentences may be compared, in order to ascertain their true meaning.
(2) The reason and spirit of the law, and the cause which induced the legislature to enact it, may be considered to discover its true meaning.
(3) Every construction which leads to an absurdity shall be rejected. [CC 1859, §10; RL 1925, §10; RL 1935, §11; RL 1945, §10; am L 1955, c 57, §1(c); RL 1955, §1-18; HRS §1-15]
(1) The meaning of the ambiguous words may be sought by examining the context, with which the ambiguous words, phrases, and sentences may be compared, in order to ascertain their true meaning.
(2) The reason and spirit of the law, and the cause which induced the legislature to enact it, may be considered to discover its true meaning.
(3) Every construction which leads to an absurdity shall be rejected. [CC 1859, §10; RL 1925, §10; RL 1935, §11; RL 1945, §10; am L 1955, c 57, §1(c); RL 1955, §1-18; HRS §1-15]
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in Hawaii?
Find a Hawaii lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.