A Dictionary Of Statutory Interpretation

Statutory interpretation has become the most commonly-required skill of the modern lawyer. A Dictionary of Statutory Interpretation provides a ready reference to the important terms and ideas that arise in connection with determining the meaning of legislation. Chapter 1 includes over 100 entries, including the following: ambiguity the absurdity canon linguistic and substantive canons legislative intent legislative purpose legislative history textualism Legal Realism Law and Economics Each entry includes a definition, an explanation of the relevance of the term and ideas for statutory interpretation, some history about its use, and a concise discussion of contemporary issues. The author expresses his point of view in the discussion of these issues - which is generally skeptical about textualism - but presents all sides of the debate. A "reference" section allows for further research on each subject. Chapter 2 includes over 35 famous quotations dealing with the interpretation of statutes, along with historical and critical commentary. The entries include Learned Hand, Holmes, Calabresi, Posner, Easterbrook, Pound, Blackstone, etc. The book will be useful for lawyers, judges, law professors, and law students who want an entry into the contemporary debate about how to interpret legislation, along with an insight into what is at stake in those debates. "...filled with usefully extended treatments of important and interesting legal terms." -- The Green Bag "This book will be a useful tool for readers or libraries needing a good single-volume guide to statutory interpretation. Summing up: Highly recommended." -- CHOICE "Librarians and researchers . . . should consider A Dictionary of Statutory Interpretation an essential reference work (for a very affordable price). . . . [It] will likely become a go-to resource when quick but in-depth analysis of a statutory interpretation question is sought." -- Legal Information Alert, (Volume 26, Issue #9), Alert Publications, Inc., Chicago, IL. www.alertpub.com

Combining pragmatics, dialectics, analytics, and legal theory, this work translates interpretative canons into patterns of natural argument.

This book is designed to teach statutory interpretation skills. It uses a combination of traditional cases along with problems to accomplish that objective. Broadly organized around the process of interpretation, it focuses first on the plain meaning of the text and then addresses the question of whether and, if so, when courts will examine sources other than the text. The book addresses the various approaches and theories to interpretation and examines how those approaches have been applied to particular interpretative problems, such as implied rights, administrative interpretations, and the interpretation of "uniform statutes." Within each chapter, subjects are introduced with concise summaries of the core concepts. After the introduction, a well-edited case explores the uncertainties and boundaries of those core concepts. The notes and questions following each principal case are designed to help focus the students' thoughts and understanding of the case before they come to class. Finally, problems are included to ensure that the students use the statutory interpretation skills they have just learned. Each problem lends itself to at least two arguments (often more) and allows for further inquiry into the concepts in the chapter. The second edition has been revised and updated to include more problems and a few new cases. Additionally, the legislative and administrative chapters have been substantially revised. An electronic Teacher's Manual is available. To request the file, please email crutan (at) cap-press (dot) com.

Use this form as an attachment to your pleadings when you are litigating against the government. It prevents abuses of presumption and "words of art" that will injure your rights.

Jacob, Giles. A New Law-Dictionary: Containing, The Interpretation and Definition of Words and Terms used in the Law; and Also the Whole Law, and the Practice Thereof, Under All the Heads and Titles of the Same. Together With Such Informations Relating Thereto, as Explain the History and Antiquity of the Law, and Our Manners, Customs, and Original Government. Collected and Abstracted From All Dictionaries, Abridgments, Institutes, Reports, Year-Books, Charters, Registers, Chronicles, and Histories, Published to This Time. And Fitted for the Use of Barristers, Students, and Practicioners of the Law, Members of Parliament, and Other Gentlemen, Justices of Peace, Clergymen, &c. The Fifth Edition, with Great Additions and Improvements, and the Law-Proceedings Done Into English. To Which is Annexed, a Table of References to All the Arguments and Resolutions of the Lord Chief Justice Holt; in the Several Volumes of the Reports. London: Printed by Henry Lintot, 1744. Unpaginated [828 pp.]. Printed in double columns. Folio (9" x 12"). Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-376-6. Cloth. $295. * Reprint of the fifth edition, which was the last published during the author's lifetime. As Cowley pointed out, the New Law-Dictionary (first edition, 1729) was both Jacob's masterpiece and "an entirely new departure in legal literature" that provided a model for several subsequent efforts. In contrast to earlier works, each entry summarizes all of the laws relating to the subject and offers extensive interpretive commentary. Jacob [1686-1744] was also careful to omit obsolete terms. It was recognized almost immediately that Jacob had created a highly useful legal encyclopedia that was both more detailed and concise than any other abridgment of the period. An extremely popular work that went through twelve editions by 1800, it offers unparalleled insights into Anglo-American law during the eighteenth century. Cowley, A Bibliography of Abridgements, Digests, Dictionaries and Indexes to the Year 1800 xc-xci, 244.

Language, Meaning and the Law offers an accessible, critical guide to debates about linguistic meaning and interpretation in relation to legal language. Law is an ideal domain for considering fundamental questions relating to how we assign meanings to words, understand and comment on texts, and deal with socially and ideologically significant questions of interpretation. The book argues that theoretical issues of concern to linguists, philosophers, literary theorists and others are illuminated by the demands of the legal context, since law is driven by the need for practical solutions and for determinate outcomes based on explicit reasoning. Topics covered include: the relationship of linguistics to legal theory, indeterminacy and statutory interpretation, the theory and practice of using dictionaries in law, defamation and language in the public sphere, and the distinction between perjury and deception. This book does not assume specialist knowledge of the field, and is designed as a self-contained, advanced introduction to a fascinating area of study. The reader will gain an overall insight into issues and debates about meaning and interpretation, as well as an understanding of how these questions are shaped by the legal context.

Today, statutes make up the bulk of the relevant law heard in federal courts and arguably represent the most important source of American law. The proper means of judicial interpretation of those statutes have been the subject of great attention and dispute over the years. This book provides new insights into the theory and practice of statutory interpretation by courts. Cross offers the first comprehensive analysis of statutory interpretation and includes extensive empirical evidence of Supreme Court practice. He offers a thorough review of the active disputes over the appropriate approaches to statutory interpretations, namely whether courts should rely exclusively on the text or also examine the legislative history. The book then considers the use of these approaches by the justices of the recent Rehnquist Court and the degree to which they were applied by the justices, either sincerely or in pursuit of an ideological agenda.

This textbook offers a concise introduction to key concepts in the study of meaning and interpretation taken from linguistics, philosophy and the law. A range of actual cases that involve ordinary words, commonsense categories and problems of classification are explored and clearly explained for readers who want to learn more but lack the legal background. Word Meaning and Legal Interpretation: • provides a strong sense of the texture of legal problems • includes detailed summaries and analyses of cases from common law jurisdictions • equips the reader for more advanced studies in language and the law, legal theory and legal interpretation This is an ideal primer for language and law, forensic linguistics and applied linguistics students who wish to explore this fascinating field.