The Legislative Process, Statutory Interpretation, and Administrative Agencies


Book Description

This casebook is designed for a class on legislation, statutory interpretation, and regulation. It uses a combination of highly edited cases and problems to help students explore the practice of these three areas of law, with a strong emphasis on statutory interpretation. The book begins by introducing the legislative process, moves to explore in detail statutory interpretation, and ends with an introduction to the administrative state. After reading this text, students should understand how statutes are enacted and interpreted, the role that agencies play both in regulating and in interpreting statutes, and the breadth of arguments that are available to lawyers that master this topic.







The Legislative Process, Statutory Interpretation, and Administrative Agencies


Book Description

The book begins by introducing the legislative process, moves to explore in detail statutory interpretation, and ends with an introduction to the administrative state. After reading this text, students should understand how statutes are enacted and interpreted, the role that agencies play both in regulating and in interpreting statutes, and the breadth of arguments that are available to lawyers.




Statutory and Common Law Interpretation


Book Description

Kent Greenwalt's second volume on aspects of legal interpretation analyzes statutory and common law interpretation, suggesting that multiple factors are important for each, and that the relation between them influences both. The book argues against any simple "textualism," claiming that even reader understanding of statutes depends partly on perceived intent. In respect to common law interpretation, use of reasoning by analogy is defended and any simple dichotomy of "holding" and "dictum" is resisted.




Modern Statutory Interpretation


Book Description

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.




Judging Statutes


Book Description

In an ideal world, the laws of Congress--known as federal statutes--would always be clearly worded and easily understood by the judges tasked with interpreting them. But many laws feature ambiguous or even contradictory wording. How, then, should judges divine their meaning? Should they stick only to the text? To what degree, if any, should they consult aids beyond the statutes themselves? Are the purposes of lawmakers in writing law relevant? Some judges, such as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, believe courts should look to the language of the statute and virtually nothing else. Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit respectfully disagrees. In Judging Statutes, Katzmann, who is a trained political scientist as well as a judge, argues that our constitutional system charges Congress with enacting laws; therefore, how Congress makes its purposes known through both the laws themselves and reliable accompanying materials should be respected. He looks at how the American government works, including how laws come to be and how various agencies construe legislation. He then explains the judicial process of interpreting and applying these laws through the demonstration of two interpretative approaches, purposivism (focusing on the purpose of a law) and textualism (focusing solely on the text of the written law). Katzmann draws from his experience to show how this process plays out in the real world, and concludes with some suggestions to promote understanding between the courts and Congress. When courts interpret the laws of Congress, they should be mindful of how Congress actually functions, how lawmakers signal the meaning of statutes, and what those legislators expect of courts construing their laws. The legislative record behind a law is in truth part of its foundation, and therefore merits consideration.







Mastering Statutory Interpretation


Book Description

Mastering Statutory Interpretation explains the methods of interpreting statutes, including a discussion of the various theories and canons of interpretation. The book begins by exploring these theories and identifying the sources of meaning the theorists use to interpret statutes, including intrinsic, extrinsic, and policy-based. Throughout, the text uses the major cases in each area of study to explain how the canons work in practice. Finally, each chapter provides a concise roadmap and summary to introduce and encapsulate the most important material. The second edition adds one new chapter to address the administrative issues that faculty teaching legislation and regulation need, as well as a running hypothetical to help students better implement what they are learning.




A Dictionary of Statutory Interpretation


Book Description

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