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8 - Forms of Legal Methodologies – Statutory Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2009

Robert S. Summers
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

“[T]he words used, even in their literal sense, are the primary, and ordinarily the most reliable, source of interpreting the meaning… .”

– L. Hand

“There is no surer guide in the interpretation of a statute than its purpose when that is sufficiently disclosed… .”

– L. Hand

INTRODUCTION

A legal methodology may be defined as a systematic general approach to the duly purposive and consistent execution of a recurrent type of major task arising in the making or application of law. A methodology is thus a special type of functional legal unit. A legislature may adopt tenets of a methodology more or less all at once or a highest court may evolve tenets of a methodology case by case over time. A methodology may not be fully developed in a jurisdiction at a given time.

In many jurisdictions within developed Western systems, generally authoritative methodologies are recognized in some measure for the duly purposive and consistent execution of at least the following major types of tasks: interpreting statutes, interpreting contracts, and interpreting written constitutions. Methodologies may also exist for the application of case-law precedent, and for the drafting of statutes, and of contracts.

The use of a methodology for the duly purposive and consistent execution of a major and recurrent type of task arising in the making or application of law is to be contrasted with purported execution of such a task without resort to any methodology.

Type
Chapter
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Form and Function in a Legal System
A General Study
, pp. 241 - 282
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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