What is the meaning of the term "amendment"?

Moving beyond this limited application, the few appellate decisions considering the general import of the term "amendment," have taken a much broader view. In Robbins v. O.R.R. Co. (1867) 32 Cal. 472, the court was required to interpret the terms "rail" and "track" as used in an 1866 act setting rates for railroad passenger service in the City of San Francisco, and requiring the owner of the railroad tracks to "keep the space between the rails in thorough repair." The act expressly excluded from this repair requirement "any portion of the street outside of the track." (Stats. 1866, ch. 622, pp. 849-850.) A dispute arose as to whether the owner was required to repair that portion of the street between two adjacent tracks or just the portion between the rails of each track.