S1L6 – How to interpret law using “Ejusdem Generis”
To my law students in the college of law and in the Facebook School of Law:
What is meant by “EJUSDEM GENERIS?”
It’s a rule in statutory construction—which, by the way, has nothing to do with engineering. It’s the activity of construing (interpreting) what a statute (state law) means, ergo “statutory construction.”
“Ejusdem generis” is Latin for “include only what is similar in genre.” It’s a limiting principle for interpreting the law to prevent abuse.
Let’s say you are sending the household help on an errand: “Brosia, mamalengke ka nga at magluluto daw ng pinakbet ang Ate mo. Etong pambili.”
Brosia asks, “Ano pong mga bibilhin ko po, Koya?”
“Bumili ka ng sibuyas, kamatis, bawang, talong, ampalaya, bagoong at kung anu-ano pa.”
Two hours later Brosia comes home aboard the delivery van of the SM appliance center. Two men carry a 72-inch LED TV into the house. The wife is shocked, “Brosia?! Ano itong binili mo? Sinong nagsabing bumili ka ng giant TV?”
“Si Koya po. Sabi niya bili daw ako ng sibuyas, kamatis, bawang, talong, ampalaya, bagoong AT KUNG ANU-ANO PA. E di ginamit ko po yung kridit kard nya at binili ko itong malaking tibi para mapanood natin yung Probinsyanu!”
Is Brosia correct in her interpretation of the general phrase “at kung anu-ano pa”?
No.
When an enumeration of objects ends with the phrase “and others” or “and such” or any other seemingly general description, it must be taken to refer only to those things similar in nature and character as the objects enumerated.
So the general phrase “at kung anu-ano pa” must be understood as referring only to other ingredients of pinakbet—just like sibuyas, kamatis, bawang, talong, ampalaya ang bagoong. A colored TV, or any other appliance for that matter, does not fit the general characteristics of the enumerated objects. It is not “ejusdem generis” compliant.
In the same manner, when the law provides that NEA’s authority includes assisting electric cooperatives in (1) obtaining loans, (2) serve as guarantor for loans, (3) grant loans, (4) provide institutional, financial or technical assistance, (5) pursue total electrification through loans, (6) rehabilitate ailing cooperatives to become viable again and “exercise such other powers as necessary to attain the objectives of this Act.”
What does that last phrase include? Can NEA use that general phrase to, for example, break open into an office at 2:40 AM, talk to banks to freeze the accounts of BENECO, set up a rogue office in YMCA, tell consumers not to pay their bills unless they pay at the rogue office, issue a general memo terminating everybody, publish an announcement recruiting replacements for everybody, print official-looking receipts not registered with the BIR, issue regular public advisories in conflict with the real policies of BENECO, all in the guise of “attaining the objectives of total electrification”?
No.
All the powers expressly enumerated by the law have something to do with HELPING the cooperative, not impairing its operation. Therefore the phrase “and exercise such other powers in order to attain the objectives of this Act” must only include supportive actions—not cut-throat competitive or adverse actions that imperil the ability of BENECO to pursue total electrification.
“O, bakit nakabihis ka? Saan ang lakad mo Brosia?”
“Magbabayad po ako ng kuryinti natin sa YMCA, Koya Napanood ko yung announcement ng NIA sa tibing binili ko.”
Tell Brosia, “Ibalik mo yang tibing yan!”
The author is a writer and lawyer based in Baguio City, Philippines. Former editor of the Gold Ore and Baguio City Digest, professor of journalism, political science and law at Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF). He is a photographer and video documentarist. He has a YouTube channel called “Parables and Reason”