5 What the rules of interpretation do to ambiguity

Plain drafting is also risk management. When words are unclear a court must choose between them, and the choice is made by rules you do not control: the literal rule (take the ordinary meaning), the golden rule (depart from literal meaning where it produces absurdity), and the mischief rule (ask what defect the provision was meant to cure). A drafter who leaves the reader guessing hands the meaning of the document to someone else. In Nepal, the interpretation of statutes follows the same pattern: ordinary meaning first, and the object and purpose of the provision used to resolve genuine doubt.