Interpretation Act 2005 section 20

Interpretation provisions

Section 20 explains how definitions and interpretation provisions within legislation should be applied, and how defined terms extend to related grammatical forms.

• Where a piece of legislation contains a definition or interpretation provision, that definition applies throughout the legislation unless the legislation itself indicates otherwise.
• A contrary intention can be found either in the enactment containing the definition or in the parent Act under which the enactment is made.
• Where a word or expression is defined, other grammatical forms of that word carry a corresponding meaning.
• This ensures consistency of interpretation across all parts of a legislative text without the need to redefine every grammatical variation of a term.