LAWW 54002 — Legislation
Law in the United States increasingly comes from written texts -- statutes, ordinances, and administrative regulations. This course will introduce the primary tools that lawyers use when interpreting these texts. It will begin with an overview of various theories and methodological approaches to interpretation. Then it will turn to the ways that lawyers and courts discern the meaning of legal texts (including through canons of interpretation) and construe those texts in light of external sources of authority (including legislative history and other texts). At various points during the course, students will apply these tools to hypothetical and real-world problems. (Typically offered: Irregular)