PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION THE following pages contain a condensed statement and exposition of the accepted rules for the construction and interpretation of the written laws, whether constitutional or statutory. In accordance with the general plan of the Hornbook Series, these rules have been formulated somewhat after the manner of a code, expressed in brief black-letter paragraphs numbered consecutively throughout the book, and explained, developed, and illustrated in the subsidiary text. The cases cited in the original edition of this work were considered sufficient in number and variety to explain and enforce the doctrines set forth, attention being given to the more important and leading authorities and to those which had furnished the most forcible or striking illustrations of the application of the rules of construction in actual practice. But in view of the great and growing body of decisions upon this highly important subject, it has been deemed advisable, in the present edition, very largely to increase the number of citations. Practically all of the reported cases dealing with the general subject or any of its subdivisions, decided within. the fifteen years which have elapsed since the first publication of the book, have been collected by the author and cited in their proper connections. These additions have also resulted in a complete and thorough revision of the entire work. Many parts of it have been greatly expanded and some wholly rewritten. Some changes have also been made in the arrangement of the several parts or sections of the book, for the sake of what now appears to the writer a more logical and orderly system of classification. In the preface to the first edition the statement was made -and a study of the later decisions induces the author to repeat it with emphasis-that it was impossible, in examining the course and current of the authorities, to overlook the great change which has come over the disposition of the (v) courts with reference to their office as interpreters of the law. It is no longer assumed to be the province of the judiciary either to quibble away or to evade the mandates of the legislature. On the contrary, the modern authorities recognize only one rule as absolutely unvarying, namely, to seek out and enforce the actual meaning and will of the law-making power. Thus, the doctrine of "equitable" interpretation has become obsolete, the difference between "strict" and "liberal" construction has been reduced to a minimum, and the sanctity of the common law is no longer so jealously insisted upon, and in fact some of the latest adjudications, especially in some of our newer commonwealths, exhibit an attitude towards that once venerated system which very nearly approaches contempt. It is in accordance with this modern spirit that the present work has been written; and the author's constant endeavor, while assigning to all the various minor and related rules the degree of prominence which their relative importance demanded, has been to give adequate expression to the one cardinal and fundamental principle of all true interpretation, that the actual intention of the legislature should in all cases be sought out and made effective. WASHINGTON, D. C., April 1, 1911. H. C. B. 105-110 41. Presumption Against Unconstitutionality. 42. Presumption Against Inconsistency. 43. Presumption Against Impossibility. 44. Presumption Against Injustice.... 45. Presumption Against Inconvenience. 46. Presumption Against Absurdity.... 47. Presumption Against Ineffectiveness. 48. Presumption as to Public Policy.... .... 119-121 122-125 126-128 129-131 132-134 134-136 136-137 138-140 |
