Category Archives: Legislative History

Have You Bought Your 20th Edition of The Bluebook®?

16 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by in Abbreviations, Acronyms, Citations, Footnotes, Legal Writing, Legislative History, Numbers, Parentheses, Parentheticals, Punctuation, Quotations, String Citations, The Bluebook

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Personally, I’m waiting for Peter Martin at Cornell to update his excellent Bluebook® Cheat Sheet. But, if you want to know all things Bluebook®, I can recommend this website – https://www.legalbluebook.com/.

This website also provides a way to buy a hard copy, which is my preference when I use it regularly. If you use The Bluebook® at all, I recommend bookmarking and browsing here the entire website and its features. Yearly subscriptions are a reasonable rate.

The good news for Bluebook® users is that, at the beginning of every new edition, there is a list of the differences between this version and the last one. Here is a preview of what is new in the 20th Edition: https://www.legalbluebook.com/Public/Updates.aspx.

Yes, you will wonder about why some of the changes were made. That is a given. But isn’t it nice to have all the changes summarized and listed for you right up front. No guessing and no reason to search the entire book to find the updates. -CCE

 

Judge Posner Critique on Structuring Statutory-Interpretation Books.

28 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by in Brief Writing, Case Briefs, Legal Analysis, Legal Argument, Legal Writing, Legislative History, Statutory Interpretation

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Judge Posner on Statutory Interpretation: This Is How We Do It, by David Lat, Above The Law Blog

http://tinyurl.com/nba842o

[J]udge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit delivered the Madison Lecture on Judicial Engagement at Columbia Law School. The lecture series, sponsored by the CLS chapter of the Federalist Society, brings distinguished jurists to Columbia to discuss topics relevant to the federal judiciary and the administration of justice.

(Perhaps we should put ‘at’ Columbia Law in quotation marks; Judge Posner actually appeared via video conference. That shouldn’t surprise, coming from a judge who lists The Matrix as one of his favorite films.)

In his talk, entitled ’How I Interpret Statutes and the Constitution,’ Judge Posner was his usual candid self. He offered commentary on two recent books about statutory and constitutional interpretation — books that he’s not a fan of.

Yes, readers. There will be benchslaps….

Supreme Court Judges Really Use Dictionaries To Determine Legislative Intent?

26 Monday May 2014

Posted by in Appellate Judges, Appellate Law, Judges, Legal Analysis, Legal Dictionaries, Legal Writing, Legislative History, References, United States Supreme Court

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Look It Up! Or Not…, by Tiffany Johnson, Good Legal Writing

http://goodlegalwriting.com/2014/04/14/look-it-up-or-not/

I always encourage my students to look up any words that confuse them as they read opinions.  But this 2011 New York Times article  cites a few scholars who don’t think it’s the most judicious practice to undertake from the bench.  Check out this excerpt:

In May alone, the justices cited dictionaries in eight cases to determine what legislators had meant when they used words like ‘prevent,’ ‘delay’ and ‘report.’ Over the years, justices have looked up both perfectly ordinary words (‘now,’ ‘also,’ ‘any,’ ‘if’) and ones you might think they would know better than the next guy (‘attorney,’ ‘common law’).

All of this is, lexicographers say, sort of strange. . . .

Legal Writers, This Blog Is For You.

22 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in ALWD, Brief Writing, Citations, Footnotes, Legal Writing, Legislative History, Quotations, The Bluebook

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Citing Legally Blog, by Peter W. Martin, Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law Emeritus, Cornell

http://citeblog.access-to-law.com/

If you have any interest in the fine points of legal citation and legal writing, this is the blog for you. Citation master, Peter Martin, who holds  an endowed chair named for the late Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law Emeritus at Cornell, has created a forum to discuss and elaborate on citations as they are used by counsel and the court.

This is a “must bookmark” for anyone interested in legal writing, cite-checking, or how to cite properly. Please click on “About – Scope and Purpose” to read more about the authors’ intent for this blog. -CCE

Legislative History’s Importance in Legal Writing.

10 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by in Appellate Law, Legal Writing, Legislative History

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From Ohio Lawyer: The importance of legislative history in Supreme Court decisions, by Porter Wright

http://tinyurl.com/kvtcp9m

Kathleen Trafford, a partner in Porter Wright’s Litigation Department, published the article “The importance of legislative history in Supreme Court decisions” in the September/October issue of Ohio Lawyer, the magazine of the Ohio State Bar Association.