Freedland v. Greco

In Freedland v. Greco (1955) 45 Cal.2d 462, the Supreme Court evaluated recently enacted antideficiency legislation. It set out the following rules of statutory construction of such consumer protective legislation: "Taking into consideration the policies and purposes of the act, the applicable rule of statutory construction is that the purpose sought to be achieved and evils to be eliminated have an important place in ascertaining the legislative intent. Statutes should be interpreted to promote rather than defeat the legislative purpose and policy. . . . 'That construction of a statute should be avoided which affords an opportunity to evade the act, and that construction is favored which would defeat subterfuges, expediencies, or evasions employed to continue the mischief sought to be remedied by the statute, or to defeat compliance with its terms, or any attempt to accomplish by indirection what the statute forbids.' "