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Aspects Of Deconstruction: The Failure Of The Word "Bird", Anthony D'Amato
Aspects Of Deconstruction: The Failure Of The Word "Bird", Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Lawyers and judges often become impatient with those who dispute what they regard as the clear meaning of words. The meaning of words derives from the contexts in which they are employed, and we can never be certain of the context because we cannot enter into the minds of other persons to see the contexts to which their minds are adverting.
Can Legislatures Constrain Judicial Interpretation Of Statutes?, Anthony D'Amato
Can Legislatures Constrain Judicial Interpretation Of Statutes?, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
An aspect of the battle over deconstruction is whether resort to legislative intent might help to determine the content of a statutory text that otherwise, in splendid isolation, could be deconstructed by simply positing different interpretive contexts. I examine the same issue by recounting my own quest for determinate meaning in statutes—a sort of personal legislative history. I do not claim for jurisprudence the role of ensuring faithful reception of the legislature's message, for that is impossible. At best, jurisprudential theory only reduces the degrees of interpretive freedom, and then only probably, not necessarily. The more significant thesis of this …