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Kentucky Revised Statutes · § 446.080 — Liberal construction -- Statutes not retroactive -- Common usage -- Technical terms

446.080. Liberal construction -- Statutes not retroactive -- Common usage -- Technical terms

(1) All statutes of this state shall be liberally construed with a view to promote their objects and carry out the intent of the legislature, and the rule that statutes in derogation of the common law are to be strictly construed shall not apply to the statutes of this state.

(2) There shall be no difference in the construction of civil, penal and criminal statutes.

(3) No statute shall be construed to be retroactive, unless expressly so declared.

(4) All words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of language, but technical words and phrases, and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law, shall be construed according to such meaning.

Source notes

Effective: October 1, 1942

History and annotations

Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. secs. 459, 460.

Official source for this version

Source captured 2026-09-25. Open the official source.

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