EXTRINSIC AIDS

- Extraneous facts, circumstances of means of explanation resorted to for the purpose

of determining the legislative intent.
- Drawing conclusions respecting subjects that lie beyond the direct expression of
the text.
- It can only be resorted when intrinsic aids have been used and exhausted.
- It utilizes extrinsic aids, which are as follows:
a. Contemporaneous Circumstances – conditions existing at the time the law
was enacted; previous state of the law; evils sought to be prevented; customs
and languages of the people.
b. Policy – the general policy of the law or the settled policy of the state which
induced the enactment may enlighten the interpreter of the laws as to be the
intention of the legislature enacting the same.
c. Legislative History of the State – may be found in the reports of the
legislative committees in the transcript of the stenographic notes taken during
hearings, investigation and debates.
d. Contemporaneous and Practical Construction – those who lived near or at
the time when the law was enacted were more acquainted of the conditions
why the law was enacted. Their understanding and application of the law,
especially if the same has been construed by the judicial tribunals and legal
profession, deserve to be considered by the courts.
e. Executive Construction – deserves great weight and should be respected if
said construction has been formed and observed for a long period of time. The
rules to remember are as follows:
 Congress is deemed to have been aware of the contemporaneous and
practical construction made by the officers charged with the administration
of and enforcement of the law.
 The court should respect that contemporaneous construction except if it
is clearly erroneous.
 Executive construction has more weight if it is rendered by the Chief Legal
Adviser of the government who can issue opinions to assist various
departments of the government charged with the duty to administer the
law.
 The opinion, however, by the Chief Legal Adviser is subservient to the
ruling of the judiciary which is in charge of applying and interpreting the
laws.
f. Legislative Construction – entitled to consideration but cannot control against
the court’s prerogative to decide on what is wrong and right interpretation.
g. Judicial Construction – it is presumed that statutes were enacted in the light
of judicial construction that the prior enactment had received.
h. Construction by the Bar and Legal Commentators – the meaning publicly
given by the members of the legal profession is a true one and regarded as
one that should not be lightly charged.