The grammatical and ordinary sense of the words is to be adhered to, unless that would lead to some absurdity, or some repugnance or inconsistency with the rest of the instrument, in which case the grammatical and ordinary sense of the words may be modified, so as to avoid that absurdity and inconsistency, but no farther." This became known as "Lord Wensleydale's golden rule". It only applies where the words are ambiguous. An interpretation that is not absurd is to be preferred to one that is. An example is:
R v Allen (1872) LR 1 CCR 367.
The Case, the Conditions, Legal Subject, Legal Action
The order of elements is:
1) The Case
2) The Conditions
3) Legal Subject
4) Legal Action
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