statutory interpretation
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The Top Statutory Interpretation Cases of 2020
A banner year for interpretation Continue reading
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Constitutional Law Ruins Everything. A (sort of) response to Mancini’s “Neutrality in Legal Interpretation.”
This post is by Andrew Bernstein. No! I am not an academic nor was meant to be.Am a mere practitioner, one that will doTo settle a dispute, argue an appeal or twoWhen advising clients, the law’s my tool.Deferential, if it helps me sway the courtArgumentative, and (aspirationally) meticulous.Case-building is my professional sportTrying my hand at Continue reading
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Textualism for Hedgehogs
Why substantive canons belong in textualist interpretation, and what this tells us about neutral interpretive principles Continue reading
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Neutrality in Legal Interpretation
Nowadays, it is unfashionable to say that legal rules, particularly rules of interpretation, should be “neutral.” Quite the opposite: now it is more fashionable to say that results in cases depend on the “politics” of a court on a particular day. Against this modern trend, not so long ago, it was Herbert Wechsler in his Continue reading
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Linguistic Nihilism
One common line of attack against textualism—the idea that “the words of a governing text are of paramount concern, and what they convey, in their context, is what the text means (Scalia & Garner, at 56)—is that language is never clear, or put differently, hopelessly vague or ambiguous. Put this way, the task of interpretation Continue reading
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“Purposive” Does Not Equal “Generous”: The Interpretation Act
It is often said in Canada that statutes must be interpreted “purposively” and “generously.” Many cite the federal Interpretation Act’s s.12, which apparently mandates this marriage between purposive and generous interpretation: 12 Every enactment is deemed remedial, and shall be given such fair, large and liberal construction and interpretation as best ensures the attainment of its Continue reading
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What Needs to Be Said
Sometimes people say things that need to be said. These things may make us uncomfortable. They may force us to look in the mirror. They may ask us to really sit and think about our conduct. We might not like to hear these things, but they might start a discussion. Or maybe they will force Continue reading
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On Canadian Statutory Interpretation and Recent Trends
I have had the pleasure of reading (for the first time front-to-back) the legal interpretation classic, Reading Law by Justice Scalia and Bryan Garner. For Canadian courts struggling with how to source and use purpose when interpreting statutes, Reading Law provides valuable assistance. It does so by outlining two schools of thought on how to Continue reading
Double Aspect 