The system of basic rules and maxims applied by a court to aid in its interpretation of a written document, such as a statute or contract. In the case of a statute, certain canons of construction can help a court ascertain what the drafters of the statuteusually congress or a state legislaturemeant by the language used in the law. The appendix divides the canons into three conventional categories. Jun 10, 2016 a number of interpretive canons of statutory interpretation depend on an initial evaluation of whether the statutory text is clear or ambiguous. The only overarching rule is that the goal of all statutory interpretation, and, therefore, of all canons, is to give effect to the legislatures intent. Third, judges may turn to the canons of construction, which are.
Not infrequently the court stacks the deck, and subordinates the general, linguistic canons of statutory construction, as well as other interpretive principles, to overarching presumptions that favor particular substantive results. Boli stepbystep method for statutory construction places the absurdresult maxim at the third level of analysis. Jul 10, 2020 fully updated content guides the reader through every aspect of statutory interpretation, etatutory the rules of construction to the legal meaning of an enactment, exploring areas such as the linguistic canons of construction, interpretative principles derived from legal policy, and presumptions based on the nature of legislation. When the last shot is fired, it would not be shocking to see the rule of lenity decide the case. Substantive canons for example, the rule of lenity, the avoidance. Reading law, justice antonin scalia and his coauthor, bryan garner, identify 57 different canons.
Moreover, petitioner incorrectly applies the ejusdem generis and surplusage canons to the statutory language at issue. Third, judges may turn to the canons of construction, which are presumptions about how courts ordinarily read statutes. The meat of the book consists of these valid canons that, by scalia and garners ac. While entire books have been written on statutory construction, this paper represents a more modest undertaking. This is merely a collection of the most common rules of statutory construction plucked from two centuries of georgia case law. Canons of statutory construction give judges the ability to decide questions of statutory interpretation that necessarily rely on an element of judicial discretion. She believes that there is a strong argument based on the expressio unius canon1 that the enhancement provision does not apply to the defendant in the case. This most decidedly is not what judges do when inter preting statutes with the canons of statutory construction. Legislative drafting manuals and statutory interpretation.
This book draws upon linguistics, legal theory, computing, and dialectics to. The rise of statute law has affected the significance of statutory interpretation. Topics include legislative power, legislative organization and. Canons of statutory construction are general rules for construing text.
The pdf version displays the bill in the same way as the printed. Statutory interpretation involves the reconstruction of the meaning of a legal statement. The multivolume sutherland statutory construction is the authoritative text on the rules of statutory construction. The canons of construction are a series of judicially made semantic and substantive tools that are utilized by judges when interpreting a statute. Chapter 1 includes a note regarding citations to gao case law and. Discuss the rules of statutary interpretation with the. Apr 05, 2018 just as the justifications for using the canons of construction vary, so may judges disagree on what qualifies as a valid canon, either as a matter of theory or historical fact. Fully updated content guides the reader through every aspect of statutory interpretation, from the rules of construction to the legal meaning of an enactment, exploring areas such as the linguistic canons of construction, interpretative principles derived from legal policy, and presumptions based on the nature of legislation. At the end are some canons that apply to specific areas of law.
As a result, these canons have received a lot of attention from statutory interpretation scholars and court commentators. Part i describes faithful agency, substantive canons, and why the two are in. First, the rules, principles, presumptions and canons of statutory interpretation form part of the law. But if principles of contract interpretation and contract construction are so important for. Reconsidering substantive canons the university of. In construing the statutes of this state, the following canons of interpretation are to govern, unless their observance would involve a construction inconsistent with the manifest intent of the legislature, or repugnant to the context of the statute. Citing language barriers and disparate bargaining positions, the courts created unique construction principles. It is only when the language is less than clear or is ambiguous that the court should move to statutory construction and use the canons of construction and legislative. The number of canons is unclear but may be in the hundreds.
The thesis of the book is that there are valid canons 18 of statutory inter pretation and that if all judges followed these valid canons they would be more constrained and law would be more predictable. This canon holds that when the parties choose to have their contract governed by the law or laws of a particular jurisdiction, they intend for courts to apply that jurisdictions internal law rather than its whole law. In common law jurisdictions, the judiciary may apply rules of statutory interpretation to legislation enacted by the legislature or to delegated legislation such as administrative agency regulations. By translating and summarizing the existing legal interpretative. A strict or liberal construction will depend upon a combination of many. This appendix collects the canons of statutory construction that have been used or developed by the rehnquist court, from the 1986 through the 1993 terms of the court inclusive. It is a fundamental rule of statutory construction that, unless the legislature clearly expresses its intent to the contrary, a statute will be construed to operate prospectively and not retroactively. Oct 30, 2015 united states promises to be a primetime event for statutory interpretation geeks. Canons of construction legal definition of canons of construction. To give merit to those arguments would undermine those canons usefulness and purpose in supporting a system of faithful interpretation of legal texts. Law summaries legislative drafting manual memoranda cases of note.
Linguistic canons are a subset of textual canons linguistic whole act whole code general strategies courts almost always start with the text itself, and then expand outward to other statutory provisions, statute structure and other. Guide to the literature and resources of the ust library. These maxims are set forth in division 4, general provisions, part 4, of the civil code, contained in sections 3509 3548. Under washington state canons of statutory construction, what is the relativeandqualifyingwordsandphrases rule. Words are to be understood in their ordinary, everyday meaningsunless the context indicates that they bear a technical sense. With remarks on precedents and authorities 1839 also available from heinonline. Canons of lending manyara boss ii potential risk of default assessment. Canons of construction are rules and tests that the court uses to examine statutory language. Canons of construction legal definition of canons of. The common textual canons of statutory construction employed in american jurisprudence are. Jan 05, 2018 substantive canons of statutory construction such as the rule of lenity or the canon of constitutional avoidance sometimes play a pivotal role in the supreme courts statutory interpretation cases.
Introduction to statutory interpretation 3 unfortunately for newcomers, this is an inescapably complex task which involves an art, not a science. Second, this comment addresses the puzzle that these authorities pose for textualists. Statutory construction 1 league of california cities. When a dispute involves a contract, a court will apply other canons of interpretation, or construction, to help determine what the parties to the agreement.
The canons of indian treaty and statutory construction. Pdf statutory construction end law notes ernesto n. Gao16463sp, principles of federal appropriations law. A particular or specific provision will take precedence over a conflicting general provision except where. Francis lieber, legal and political hermeneutics, or principles of interpretation and construction in law and politics. Indeed, one could tout this as the battle of the canons the exchange of volleys between two venerable canons of statutory construction. Under washington state canons of statutory construction, what is the rule when statutory definitions are absent. Carparelli, the rehnquist courts canons of statutory construction sept. Words must be given the meaning they had when the text was adopted. Legislationstatutory interpretation research canons. Recognized as a core text on statutory construction by the american bar association and others, sutherland statutes and statutory construction lays out the principles of statutory interpretation and helps you develop your own theories and positions supported by these principles, and by analysis of the legislative process itself. Generally, legislative definitions provided in a statute are controlling, but in the absence of a statutory definition, courts may give a term its.
Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, courts give effect to the statute as written, without engaging in statutory construction. There is a popular belief among statutory interpretation scholars that substantive canons of statutory construction that is, policybased background norms or presumptions such as the rule of lenity and the canon of constitutional avoidanceact as an escape valve that helps textualist judges eschew, or mitigate, the rigors of textualism. The canons of construction for choiceoflaw clauses by. Construction, 43 context, 44 contracts, 46 declaratory statutes, 47 deference to agency canon, 48 derogation of common law canon, 56 detailed text, 61 dictionaries, 62 dictionary act, 64 direct democracy, 67 drafting history, 71 ejusdem generis canon, 74 entrenchment, 75 equal protection violation, 81 equitable interpretation extensive and.
Based on data from 296 cases, the article argues that much of the conventional wisdom about substantive canons of statutory construction is wrong, or at least overstated with respect to the modern supreme court. Apr 04, 2021 while california statutes do not provide general canons of statutory construction, readers can find in the california civil code maxims of jurisprudence. The puzzle of trailing modifiers state bar of michigan. Mendelson, change, creation, and unpredictability in statutory interpreta. Philex dissenting statutory construction is the art or process opinion of justice gutierrez4 of discovering and expounding the meaning and intention of the. See worldcat for library copies and bookfinder for copies for sale. When a dispute involves a contract, a court will apply other canons of interpretation, or construction. Chapter 2 conventional canons of statutory interpretation. A civil statute presumptively has no retroactive application. Commonly applied rules of statutory construction colorado. What counts as a canon of statutory interpretation. But because it is so difficult to make those clarity versus ambiguity determinations in a coherent, evenhanded way, courts should reduce the number of canons of construction that depend on an initial.
Catchall canon catchall clauses are to be read as bringing within a statute categories similar in type to those specifically enumerated. California law and its maxims of jurisprudence california. Canons of statutory construction united states federal law free. The statutes and common law provide several rules that guide the courts. Listing the canons of construction idaho state bar. First, judges often begin by looking to the ordinary meaning of the statutory text. To be fair, this is also true of some of the canons and anticanons in justice scalias book. Gaos policy and procedures manual for guidance of federal. The canons include linguistic canons that are based on grammatical rules. Sep 24, 2014 any of these canons may give way if context points toward a contrary meaning. Linguistic canons of construction broad categories. A bank would issue guidelines to staff responsible for loan applications concerning the maximum risk the bank should bear for any particular type of loan.
The canons of indian treaty and statutory construction evolved judicially as a component of the federal fiduciary duty to protect in dian culture and resource rights. A practitioners guide to arguing cases of statutory interpretation. Statutory interpretation federation of american scientists. If, however, the text has more than one legitimate interpretation, then it is ambiguous has no plain meaning from which to determine the legislatures intent. While these manuals generally support the textual canons and other. Second, courts interpret specific provisions by looking to the broader statutory context. The pdf version displays the bill in the same way as the printed version, including page and line numbers. This is, in part, because eskridges account of canons in. Karl llewellyn, remarks on the theory of appellate decisions and the rules or canons about how statutes are to be construed 3 vand. Reed dickerson, the interpretation and application of statutes little, brown and company 1975.
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