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Version status: In force | Document consolidation status: No known changes
Version date: 1 January 2006 - onwards
Version 2 of 2

18. General rules of construction.

The following provisions apply to the construction of an enactment:

(a) Singular and plural. A word importing the singular shall be read as also importing the plural, and a word importing the plural shall be read as also importing the singular;

(b) Gender.

(i) A word importing the masculine gender shall be read as also importing the feminine gender;

(ii) In an Act passed on or after 22 December 1993, and in a statutory instrument made after that date, a word importing the feminine gender shall be read as also importing the masculine gender;

(c) Person. "Person" shall be read as importing a body corporate (whether a corporation aggregate or a corporation sole) and an unincorporated body of persons, as well as an individual, and the subsequent use of any pronoun in place of a further use of "person" shall be read accordingly;

(d) Adopted child. A reference, however expressed, to a child of a person shall be read as including -

(i) in an Act passed after the passing of the Adoption Act 1976 a reference to a child adopted by the person under the Adoption Acts 1952 to 1998 and every other enactment which is to be construed together with any of those Acts, or