TRADITIONAL TOOLS OF STATUTORY INTERPRETATION

By Michael Sinclair Statutes are now the predominant source of law in our society, the primary resource for legal decisions in all kinds and at all levels of legal practice. This book is about the process of making and justifying legal decisions based on the interpretation and application of statutes. It introduces and explains the methods of interpretation― the "traditional tools of statutory interpretation" as Justice Stevens called them ―used by legal professionals in interpreting and applying statutes. It covers techniques such as precedent, relation to context, canons of construction, and more contentiously, legislative history. The focus is on explanation and justification with the aim of conveying the sort of understanding that will enable the reader to analyze novel cases and evaluate unfamiliar arguments. Michael Sinclair, Professor Emeritus of New York Law School, is a native of New Zealand where he received his early education, a B.A. (Economics), B.A. Hon's. (First class in