Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2. Statutory Interpretation
A. statutory interpretation includes:
i. a persuasive reason
the reason for deciding this way or that…
ii. an authorizing reason (in support of)
you can look at that source for reasons…
iii. an excluding reason (for setting aside)
you canNOT look at that source…
iv. evidence backing the persuasive reason
B. Textualism
stick to the actual TEXT of the statute
2. statutory meaning/language
i. is the term defined elsewhere in the statute
ii. OR: can it be read “in context” with the rest of the statutory language?
3. dictionary meaning
i. to “step back from your own judgment,” and check your opinion
ii. BUT: do you use the secondary or tertiary meanings??
a. how do you know which meaning to use?
and isn’t this then a normative judgment?
8. criticisms of Textualism
i. interest groups influence legislation, and not transparently…
ii. the legislature’ job is to make GENERALY rules
and then the judicial interprets them…
C. Intentionalism
use evidence of legislature’s decision-making process & considerations
4.Criticism:
i. which level of generality do you use? how should it be read?
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iv. E.G. Breyer in Zuni, the statute’s literal language can cover any of these meanings, so let’s give it the purpose
intended by Congress, …leaving out above 95th and below 5th is against the meaning
v. purposivists would argue that textualists make the same arguments that we do, they just do them covertly
5. Grady in Ulane; whether drawing a distinction against a transsexual goes against the (implied) purpose of the
Civil Rights Act
--> which is to NOT allow distinctions that treat people as inferior
i. theoretical underpinnings
a. the Rule of LAW, not of Men
b. an objective, systematic way for rules to be made
c. “a conclusion necessarily follows from a set of premises”
d. judges are NOT allowed to make value judgments…
Formalism shelters the law from moral & political arguments
the “moral principle” behind Title VII is AGAINST Formalism
b. Question of Law:
i. Major premise – the statute
Title VII of Civil Rights Act, no discrimination w/ sex
ii. + Minor premise – application/interpretation of the statute
transsexual is within the meaning of “sex”
iii. = Holding– cannot fire based on transsexuality
c. Question of Fact:
i. Major premise – the decision of law (the holding)
unlawful employment practice to fire for transsexuality
ii. + Minor premise – finding of fact
Ulane was fired b/c she’s a transsexual
iii. = Disposition – Eastern Airlines did an unlawful firing
iv. Criticisms
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B. Legal Realism
“our realist doubts”
i. theoretical underpinnings
a. Realism is skeptical of the conceit of legal formalism,
b. judges can’t be objective,
ALL judgments are (in a sense) value judgments
c. and all relevant reasons should be considered…
d. the ideological or political orientation of judges
judges decide issues in a way that is consistent with their ideology
(but may even be aware of their own biases)
c. Natural Law
“our natural law imagination”
i. theoretical underpinnings
a. principles are different from rules:
E.G. “no man should profit from his own wrong”
is a guiding principle…
b. they have an added dimension of weight, or importance
i. E.G. fairness, or justice
make sense of the underlying convictions
ii. E.G.2. common law is the truth about
our rights and duties vis-à-vis one another
c. Natural Law looks backward
i. what was the point & sense of the rule, then classify it
4. Theories of Law
A. Legal Positivism
i. the authority that law derives from…
a. Congress & The President, The Constitution, etc.
b. Locke’s state of nature, people making civilized rules in order to govern themselves
c. the authoritative norm that laws are based on
(marks off LAW from non-law…)
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iv. Advantages
1. can be formulated & applied effectively (in recurring circumstances)
2. easy to apply, clear as to what they require
3. coordinate behavior more effectively
v. Disadvantages
1. they can be under-inclusive AND over-inclusive
2. may become out of sync with reasons/greater good
E.G. should “no vehicles in the park” include strollers??
E.G.2. tax rules allow tax lawyers to get around them
3. circumstances may be hard to anticipate in advance…
A. the basics
a. they are all rules of thumb, not usually hard-and-fast rules
b. are NOT constitutive rules,
but rather they are transparent as to their justifications
c. there is NO canonical text,
i. previous holdings are binding, but they are contestable
ii. and you formulate the rules from reading them
d. previous holdings can be read in ways, and claimed to stand for different principles…
i. and you can extract a rule from a progression of cases, that turns out to be a totally different rule
e. *sometimes Courts are confident in their decision, and THEN go back to rules/reasons and formulate an opinion
1. Burkett
a. the basic rule is, manufacturer is NOT liable to third parties who buys goods from an intermediate dealer
b. only liable if the manufacturer knew it was “imminently dangerous to human life or health”
c. there is no privity of contract, no direct contractual relations
d. *however, Thomas v. Winchester said inherently dangerous products should have privity of contracts, but Ligget
didn’t use it as precedent… so the judge decided to “pick and choose”
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a. Due Care – you, as the manufacturer, create certain expectations in the consumer, AND benefit from those
expectations
i. people trust a brand, and trust that you will exercise due care…
b. Warranty – it is impliedly stated that all Cokes are fit for human consumption, and NO Cokes will have
decomposed mouses
c. liability is based on an omission of duty or an act of negligence
d. and proper inspection would have stopped the mouse from being in the bottle, therefore it is due to negligence
e. Coke is liable…
2. law of demand
i. when the demand for a good/service goes up, the price also goes up --> more people chasing fewer resources
ii. and when the price goes up, people try to avoid paying it
(E.G. stealing someone’s car may come with criminal sanctions, which you will want to try and avoid)
4. Pareto efficiency
i. Pareto superior - if it makes at least one person BETTER off, and no person WORSE off
(this works when different ppl put different values on things…)
ii. Pareto optimal – no change can make ANYONE better off, without making someone worse off
5. Kaldor-Hicks
i. measure changes in people’s welfare, based on how much they would value that change
ii. Kaldor-Hicks efficiency - those who are better off COMPENSATE those who are worse off
1. Don’t have to actually pay, just have to potentially be able to pay.
iii. what would people be willing to pay for something that hurts others, in order to compensate them?
E.G. the Learned Hand formula, cost-benefit analysis
E.G.2. forcing companies to pay to pollute
iv. is the risk or activity worth it?
v. Sort of a form of trickle-down economics
6. Externalities
i. spillovers; some effects of human conduct are not captured in present prices, both positive AND negative effects
i. Positive Externality – when Disney builds Disneyland in CA, increases property values around it, E.G.
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hotels/motels, food
ii. Negative Externality – a concrete plant spews cement dust onto its neighbors’ property, makes them sick, etc.
ii. the party that creates the externality does not necessarily pay for the cost or capture the benefit; this is inefficient
i. Disneyland buys the land around the theme park
ii. the concrete plant pays off the neighbors
iv. therefore, the neighbors should offer to PAY the factory to get a smokescreen, rather than getting dryers
v. the parties will probably settle on a price between $150 and $300
2. Problems:
i. Transaction Costs – the cost of everyone getting together and making a deal costs too much
(E.G. information, negotiation, time, strategic behavior, etc.)
ii. Strategic Behavior – all parties, including the neighbors will want to capture the surpluses
iii. Information Hazard – how do you value damages or benefits?
a resident might attach sentimental value to property
& may not have incentive to disclose true information,
to try and drive the price up, etc.
3. Possible Entitlements/Protections:
i. Right to Clean Air / Property Rule
an injunction against the spewing factory…
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