§ 9-16-22.Construction

Statutes sometimes tell courts how to read them, and this one does. Chapter 16 is to be liberally construed to effectuate its remedial purposes — a direction that favors interpretations advancing what the legislature built the chapter to accomplish, over interpretations that narrow it on technical grounds.

A liberal-construction clause guides interpretation; it doesn’t rewrite the chapter’s specific rules. The 30-day claim window in Code Section 9-16-11, the 60-day deadlines in Code Section 9-16-7, and the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard in Code Section 9-16-17 remain fixed, mandatory requirements regardless of how liberally a court reads the chapter’s overall purpose. This section shapes how courts fill gaps and resolve ambiguity, not how they treat plain, specific deadlines written elsewhere.

Nothing in the text limits “remedial purposes” to only the state’s side of a case. The chapter builds in notice requirements, claim and answer deadlines, an innocent-owner defense, and a priority claim for injured crime victims — all part of the same framework this section directs courts to read with an eye toward the statute’s underlying goals, not just its most punitive provisions.