What is AMBIGUITY? Definition of AMBIGUITY in Black's Law Dictionary
Doubtfulness; doubleness of meaning. Chapman v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 172 S.C. 250, 173 S.E. 801, 803. Duplicity, indistinctness, or uncertainty of meaning of an expression used in a written instrument. Arkansas Amusement Corporation v. Kempner, C.C.A.Ark., 57 F. 2d 466, 472. Want of clearness or definiteness., difficult to comprehend or distinguish; of doubtful import. Business Men's Assur. Ass'n v. Read, Tex.Civ.App., 48 S.W.2d 678, 680. For "Extrinsic Ambiguity," see that title.
Ambiguity of language is to be distinguished from unintelligibility and inaccuracy, for words cannot be said to be ambiguous unless their signification seems doubtful an uncertain to persons of competent skill and knowledge to under6tand them. Story, Contr. 272. It does not include uncertainty arising from the use of peculiar words, or of common words in a peculiar sense. Wig. Wills, 174; In re Milliette's Estate, 206 N.Y.S. 342, 349, 123 Misc.Rep. 745. It is latent where the language employed is clear and intelligible and suggests but a single meaning, but some extrinsic fact or extraneous evidence creates a necessity for interpretation or a choice among two or more possible meanings, as where a description apparently plain and unambiguous is shown to fit different pieces of property. Logue v. Von Almen, 379 Ill. 208, 40 N.E.2d 73, 82, 140 A.L.R. 251. A patent ambiguity is that which appears on the face of the instrument, and arises from the defective, obscure, or insensible language used. Carter v. Holman, 60 Mo. 504; Stokeley v. Gordon, 8 Md. 505; Carroll v. Cave Hill Cemetery Co., 172 Ky. 204, 189 S.W. 186, 190.
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