House, Houses - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition house-houses

Definition :

House, Houses, See Special Reference No. 1 of 2002 (In Re Gujarat Assembly Matter, (2002) 8 SCC 237. [Constitution of India, Article 174(1)]

As to what will pass under a grant of a 'house,' see St. Thomas's Hospital v. Charing Cross Ry.Co., (1861) 1 J. & H. at p. 404, per Wood, V.-C.; Co. Litt. 5 b. As to a devise of a 'house,' see Theobald on Wills; Jarman on Wills.

Malicious injuries to houses by tenants, or by means of explosive substances, are punishable by the Malicious Damage Act, 1861 (24 & 25Vict. c. 97), ss. 9 and 13.

'House 'under the Public Health 1936 Act, s. 43, means a dwelling-house, whether private or not; under the Housing Act, 1936, s. 187, includes any yard, garden, outhouses and appurtenances; under the Rent Restriction Acts, 1920-1935, a dwelling-house means a house let as a separate dwelling or a part of a house being a part so let (1933, s. 16); for other definitions, see respective statutes.

The word 'house' would in its ordinary sense include any building irrespective of its user. To ascertain the meaning of the word 'house' one must understand the subject-matter with respect to which it is used in order to arrive at the sense in which it is employed in a statute, the word 'house' is a structure of a permanent character. It is structurally severed from other tenements. It is not necessary that a house if adapted for residential purposes should be actually dwelt in, the idea of the varieties of meanings can be had from the subject-matter of the statute. The word 'house' extends to a building which is used for business and should not be restricted to a mere dwelling house, it is not limited to a structure designed for human habitation, and may mean a building or shed intended or used as a habitation or shelter for animals of any kind, a building in the ordinary sense or any building, edifice, or structure enclosed with walls and covered, regardless of the fact of human habitation. Again in Corpus Juris Secun-dum, Vol. 41, page 365 it is said that under particular circumstances, the term has been held equivalent to and interchangeable or synonymous with 'building', 'dwelling' and 'dwelling house' and sometimes 'premises'. The rules are a legitimate aid to construction of the statute as contemporaneous exposition. Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Ltd. v. Gram Panchayat, AIR 1976 SC 2463: (1976) 4 SCC 177 (181): (1977) 1 SCR 306. [Bombay Village Panchayat Act, 1933, s. 89]