California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Estate of Bridges v. Brumleve, A137168 (Cal. App. 2014):
property under a prior will. "Where the language of a statute is unambiguous, reviewing courts need not engage in statutory construction or otherwise search for indicia of legislative intent. [Citation.] Nevertheless, although ambiguity ordinarily is a condition precedent to statutory interpretation, our rules of statutory construction also teach us that courts should look to the substance rather than the letter of the statute if absurd or unjust results follow from a literal interpretation. [Citation.]" (Mautner v. Peralta (1989) 215 Cal.App.3d 796, 804.)
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