Ejusdem Generis - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition ejusdem-generis

Definition :

Ejusdem generis (of the same kind or nature).

of the same kind or nature, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 535.

This term is chiefly used in cases where general words have a meaning attributed to them less comprehensive than they would otherwise bear, by reason of particular words preceding them: e.g., the (English) Sunday Observance Act, 1677 (29 Car. 2, c. 7), enacts that no tradesman, artificer, workman, labourer, 'or other person whatsoever,' shall follow his ordinary calling on Sunday; here [see Sandiman v. Breach, (1827) 7 B&C 96] the word 'person' is confined to those of callings of the same kind as those specified by the preceding words, so as not to include a farmer. The ejusdem generis rule, as it is called, is one of the rules of construction applied by the Court in construing documents of all kinds, whether statutes, deeds, wills, mercantile docu-ments, or others. For a discussion of the rule, see Tillmanns & Co. v. S.S. Knutsford, Ltd., (1908) 2 KB 385, affirmed, (1908) AC 406. For instances of the application of the rule, see Maxwell or Hardcastle on Statutes; Leake on Contracts; Theobald on Wills.