Judicial interpretation of the law whereby the judge adheres to the literal meaning of the words. Compare with liberal construction which expands the literal meaning of the statute to meet cases that are clearly within the spirit or reason of the law.

a narrow interpretation (as of a writing or legislation) based on a literal or technical understanding of the words used; an interpretation that considers only the literal words of a writing (i.e., teleological interpretation); a construction that considers statutory or contractual words narrowly as in their historical context with highly restrictive readings (i.e., strict interpretation); philosophy underlying of strict interpretation of statutes.

To interpret the Constitution at its specific word and language without taking changes in society, time period and invention into account.