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HRS §1-17

How words are understood in Hawaii law

This rule explains how to read words in Hawaii's laws. It says that words referring to men also include women, singular words also mean plural, and words about adults also include children. It is a general rule for interpreting legal language.

everyone

The statute, as written — - 17 Number and gender

Words in the masculine gender signify both the masculine and feminine gender, those in the singular or plural number signify both the singular and plural number, and words importing adults include youths or children. [PC 1869, c 1, §5; RL 1925, §14; RL 1935, §15; RL 1945, §14; am L 1945, c 233, §1; RL 1955, §1-22; HRS §1-17]
Read the official text at capitol.hawaii.gov ↗as published Jan 6, 2026our copy taken Aug 20, 2026

LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.