What do you understand by patent and latent ambiguties?

If the language employed in a document is ambiguous, the question of admissibility of extraneous evidence whould be regulated by section 93 to 97 of Indian Evidence Act. Ambiguties are of two types : -

1. PATENT AMBIGUITIES (Section 93-94) : - a patent ambiguity is the one which appears on the face of the document. Section 93 of Act says “when the language used in a document is on its face ambiguous or defective, evidence may not be given of fact which would show its meaning or supply its defect.”

So when a document is ambiguous on its face, no extrinsic evidence is allowed to explain or amend the instrument.

2. LATENT AMBIGUITY (Section 95-97) : - latent ambiguity is that which seems certain and without ambiguity for any thing that appears on the deed but there are some collateral matter out of the deed that breathe the ambiguity. Evidence is admissible to remove the latent ambiguity. Section 95 says that the language used in a document is plain in itself but is unmeaning in reference to existing facts, evidence may be given to show that it was used in a particular sense.