Comments on: Statutory interpretation for nine-year-olds

By: VMS

VMS — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:22:42 +0000

The case of Regina v. Ojabway is the classic case of statutory interpretation.

http://community.boredofstudies.org/331/law/47101/literal-rule-statutory-interpretation.html

It is a fictitious case written by two Havard Law professors for the Criminal Law Quarterly, and it appears in many law school texts (See e.g. Property by Casner and Leach)

The problem with such humor pieces is that the courts sometimes don’t see them as humor and cite and quote them as if they were real cases. The Second Circuit did this in US v Byrnes 644 F.2d 107 (2d Cir 1981)

http://www.hosteny.com/funcases/byrnes.html

By: ps

ps — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:06:18 +0000

I laughed so hard that I spilled my pretzels on the family room floor. I am invoking congressional privilege in order to avoid prosecution. Let my wife argue that one.

By: Patw

Patw — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:24:58 +0000

I believe the apple ruling to be in error and thus the entire record after that is tainted.

By: Larry Sheldon

Larry Sheldon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:37:20 +0000

Agree with Todd, however, in other jurisdictions an implicit recitiation of the “Because I said so.” was usually sufficient.

(Explicit recitation was to be avoided because of its close association with “Go get me a switch from the privet hedge.”)

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:55:41 +0000

If you allow the slippery slope to be a precedent, then you can never make any rule that will stick. In such cases, the legislature should amend the rule immediately to close any loophole.

By: Todd Rogers

Todd Rogers — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:41:04 +0000

A wise female caucasian judge in my childhood home would have issued a summary judgment on the first infraction (with a wooden spoon) and sent a clear message to the rest of the subjects that such challenges to existing statutes will also be sent to the star chamber in short order thereby rendering all future appeals or interpretations obsolete. The spoon still hangs on her wall as a reminder, to this very day.