Important Legal Definitions

A departure from the literal rule applied when interpreting words in their ordinary grammatical sense leads to manifest absurdity, inconsistency, or injustice, allowing the court to modify the language to avoid that absurdity while preserving legislative intent.

In Lee v. Knapp (affirmed and applied in Indian cases like Ramji Missar v. State of Bihar), the court held that where a statute required a driver to "stop" after an accident, a momentary pause of three seconds before speeding away did not satisfy the statutory purpose; "stop" meant remaining long enough to provide identification.