1.7 Interpretation and Construction

The classic distinction (the exam's discriminator): interpretation is the narrower art — the meaning of the words themselves (the linguistic act); construction is the wider — the legal effect of the words, the doctrine's drawing out of the instrument's operation (the legal act). Interpretation asks "what do the words say?" construction asks "what do they legally do?". The modern trend fuses them (the "interpretation" as the umbrella term) — but the exam should keep the distinction and note its fading.