ejusdem generis
/eɪˌ(j)ʊsdɛm ˈdʒɛnɛrɪs
/(also eiusdem generis)
adjective & adverb Law
1Of or as the same kind.There are various possibilities: that they are to be construed eiusdem generis....
- The competing possibilities on 8.2.3 are these: firstly, that the words ‘any act’ are to be construed, as it were, ejusdem generis, that is, it means any act attended by fault, because every other expression in 8.2.3 is a fault expression.
- Mr Evans on behalf of the defendant would say that it should be construed eiusdem generis.
1.1 [as adjective] Denoting a rule for interpreting statutes and other writings by assuming that a general term describing a list of specific terms denotes other things that are like the specific elements.Glidewell LJ, in a judgment with which Cresswell J agreed, applied the ejusdem generis rule to the construction of s.141 [and then he cites from that]....
- He had based his ruling upon the absence of any reference to ‘public authority’ in the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 and the application of the ejusdem generis rule.’
- It is unnecessary to speculate whether the ejusdem generis rule ought to be applied to the wording of an international convention having the force of law in this country.
Origin
Latin.