Statutes in Court: The History and Theory of Statutory Interpretation

353 Pages·1999·22.59 MB·English

by  William D. Popkin

Statutes in Court

Statutes in Court
The History and Theory of Statutory Interpretation
William D. Popkin
Duke University Press
Durham & London 1999
© 1999 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper (§
Designed by Rebecca Filene
Typeset in Sabon by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
appear on the last printed page of this book.
To my wife, Prema

Contents
Preface ix
Introduction I
Part I The Evolution of Statutory Interpretation: English Antecedents
and United States Experience 7
1. English History 9
2. The United States: From the Revolution to the Founding 31
3. The United States: Nineteenth Century 59
4. From 1900 to the 1960s: Purposive Interpretation II5
Part II Contemporary Statutory Interpretation 151
5. Giving Judges as Little to Do as Possible: The Rise of Modern
Textualism 157
6. Giving Judges Something to Do: Republicanism and
Substantive Canons 189
7. Ordinary Judging 207
Notes 257
Index of Cases 333
Index 335

Preface
My interest in statutory interpretation goes back a long way, to my years in
law school and especially to my tax teacher, Ernest Brown. I cannot tell if he
would approve of any of my conclusions, but he is responsible for my lifelong
fascination with how statutory meaning is determined and I thank him for
that.
I also want to express my appreciation to my students and colleagues over
the years, who have been a constant source of questions and information.
They greatly enriched my thinking. Special thanks go to my colleagues, Dan
Conkle and Bruce Markell, who read and commented on earlier drafts of this
book.