Kansas Statutes § 77-201 Rules of construction.

77-201. Rules of construction. In the construction of the statutes of this state the following rules shall be observed, unless the construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the legislature or repugnant to the context of the statute: First. The repeal of a statute does not revive a statute previously repealed, nor does the repeal affect any right which accrued, any duty imposed, any penalty incurred or any proceeding commenced, under or by virtue of the statute repealed. The provisions of any statute, so far as they are the same as those of any prior statute, shall be construed as a continuation of the prior provisions and not as a new enactment. Second. Words and phrases shall be construed according to the context and the approved usage of the language, but technical words and phrases, and other words and phrases that have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law, shall be construed according to their peculiar and appropriate meanings. Third. Words importing the singular number only may be extended to several persons or things, and words importing the plural number only may be applied to one person or thing. Words importing the masculine gender only may be extended to females. Fourth. Words giving a joint authority to three or more public officers or other persons shall be construed as given that authority to a majority of them, unless it is otherwise expressed in the act giving the authority. Fifth. "Highway" and "road" include public bridges and may be construed to be equivalent to "county way," "county road," "common road," "state road" and "territorial road." Sixth. "Incompetent person" includes disabled persons and incapacitated persons as defined in this section. Seventh. "Issue," as applied to the descent of estates, includes all the lawful lineal descendants of the ancestor. Eighth. "Land," "real estate" and "real property" include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights to them and interest in them, equitable as well as legal. Ninth. "Personal property" includes money, goods, chattels, evidences of debt and things in action, and digital assets as defined in the revised uniform fiduciary access to digital assets act, K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 58-4801 through 58-4819, and amendments thereto. Tenth. "Property" includes personal and real property. Eleventh. "Month" means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. "Year" alone, and also the abbreviation "A.D.," is equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord." Twelfth. "Oath" includes an affirmation in all cases where an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and in similar cases "swear" includes affirm. Thirteenth. "Person" may be extended to bodies politic and corporate. Fourteenth. If the seal of a court or public office or officer is required by law to be affixed to any paper, "seal" includes an impression of the seal upon the paper alone, as well as upon wax or a wafer affixed to the paper. "Seal" also includes both a rubber stamp seal used with permanent ink and the word "seal" printed on court documents produced by computer systems, so that the seal may be legibly reproduced by photographic process. Fifteenth. "State," when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. "United States" may include that district and those territories. Sixteenth. "Town" may mean a civil township, unless a different meaning is plainly intended. Seventeenth. "Will" includes codicils. Eighteenth. "Written" and "in writing" may include printing, engraving, lithography and any other mode of representing words and letters, excepting those cases where the written signature or the mark of any person is required by law. Nineteenth. "Sheriff" may be extended to any person performing the duties of the sheriff, either generally or in special cases. Twentieth. "Deed" is applied to an instrument conveying lands but does not imply a sealed instrument. "Bond" and "indenture" do not necessarily imply a seal but in other respects mean the same kind of instruments as above. "Undertaking" means a promise or security in any form where required by law. Twenty-first. "Executor" includes an administrator where the subject matter applies to an administrator. Twenty-second. Roman numerals and Arabic figures are to be taken as a part of the English language. Twenty-third. "Residence" means the place which is adopted by a person as the person's place of habitation and to which, whenever the person is absent, the person has the intention of returning. When a person eats at one place and sleeps at another, the place where the person sleeps shall be considered the person's residence. Twenty-fourth. "Usual place of residence" and "usual place of abode," when applied to the service of any process or notice, means the place usually occupied by a person. If a person has no family, or does not have family with the person, the person's office or place of business or, if the person has no place of business, the room or place where the person usually sleeps shall be construed to be the person's place of residence or abode. Twenty-fifth. "Householder" means a person who is 18 or more years of age and who owns or occupies a house as a place of residence and not as a boarder or lodger. Twenty-sixth. "General election" refers to the election required to be held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year. Twenty-seventh. "Under legal disability" includes persons who are within the period of minority, or who are incapacitated, incompetent or imprisoned. Twenty-eighth. When a person is required to be disinterested or indifferent in acting on any question or matter affecting other parties, relationship within the degree of second cousin, inclusive, shall disqualify the person from acting, except by consent of parties. Twenty-ninth. "Head of a family" shall include any person who has charge of children, relatives or others living with the person. Thirtieth. "Mentally ill person" means a mentally ill person as defined in K.S.A. 59-2946, and amendments thereto. Thirty-first. "Incapacitated person" means an individual whose ability to receive and evaluate relevant information, or to effectively communicate decisions, or both, even with the use of assistive technologies or other supports, is impaired to the degree that the person lacks the capacity to manage the person's estate, or to meet essential needs for the person's physical health, safety or welfare, as defined in K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 59-30,102, and amendments thereto, whether or not a guardian or a conservator has been appointed for that person. Thirty-second. "Guardian" means an individual or a nonprofit corporation certified in accordance with K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 59-30,112, and amendments thereto, which has been appointed by a court to act on behalf of a ward and possessed of some or all of the powers and duties set out in K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 59-30,153 through 59-30,155, and amendments thereto. "Guardian" does not mean natural guardian unless specified. Thirty-third. "Natural guardian" means both the biological or adoptive mother and father of a minor if neither parent has been found to be an adult with an impairment in need of a guardian or has had parental rights terminated by a court of competent jurisdiction. If either parent of a minor is deceased, or has been found to be an adult with an impairment in need of a guardian, as provided for in the Kansas uniform guardianship, conservatorship and other protective arrangements act, K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 59-30,101 through 59-30,212, and amendments thereto, or has had parental rights terminated by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the other parent shall be the natural guardian, unless also deceased, or found to be an adult with an impairment in need of a guardian, or has had parental rights terminated by a court of competent jurisdiction, in which case no person shall qualify as the natural guardian. Thirty-fourth. "Conservator" means an individual or corporation appointed by the court to act on behalf of a conservatee and possessed of some or all of the powers and duties set out in K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 59-30,176 through 59-30,179, and amendments thereto. Thirty-fifth. "Minor" means any person defined by K.S.A. 38-101, and amendments thereto, as being within the period of minority. Thirty-sixth. "Proposed ward" means a person for whom a petition for the appointment of a guardian pursuant to K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 59-30,105, 59-30,126, 59-30,129, 59-30,142, 59-30,267 or 59-30,268, and amendments thereto, has been filed. Thirty-seventh. "Proposed conservatee" means a person for whom a petition for the appointment of a conservator pursuant to K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 59-30,105, 59-30,126, 59-30,129, 59-30,142, 59-30,267 or 59-30,268, and amendments thereto, has been filed. Thirty-eighth. "Ward" means a person who has a guardian. Thirty-ninth. "Conservatee" means a person who has a conservator. Fortieth. "Manufactured home" means a structure which: (1) Is transportable in one or more sections which, in the traveling mode, is 8 body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling, with or without permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein; and (2) is subject to the federal manufactured home construction and safety standards established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 5403. Forty-first. "Mobile home" means a structure which: (1) Is transportable in one or more sections which, in the traveling mode, is 8 body feet or more in width and 36 body feet or more in length and is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems contained therein; and (2) is not subject to the federal manufactured home construction and safety standards established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 5403. Forty-second. "Disabled person" includes incapacitated persons and incompetent persons as defined in this section. History: G.S. 1868, ch. 104, § 1; R.S. 1923, 77-201; L. 1965, ch. 505, § 1; L. 1972, ch. 161, § 22; L. 1976, ch. 243, § 40; L. 1977, ch. 199, § 2; L. 1983, ch. 306, § 1; L. 1983, ch. 191, § 23; L. 1985, ch. 114, § 29; L. 1986, ch. 211, § 39; L. 1991, ch. 33, § 37; L. 1996, ch. 167, § 64; L. 2002, ch. 114, § 79; L. 2017, ch. 19, § 24; L. 2025, ch. 40, § 166; January 1, 2026.