Plain Meaning Rule

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HandWiki. Plain Meaning Rule. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/31880 (accessed on 16 October 2026).

HandWiki. Plain Meaning Rule. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/31880. Accessed October 16, 2026.

HandWiki. "Plain Meaning Rule" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/31880 (accessed October 16, 2026).

HandWiki. (2022, October 30). Plain Meaning Rule. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/31880

HandWiki. "Plain Meaning Rule." Encyclopedia. Web. 30 October, 2022.

Plain Meaning Rule

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The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Social:Plain_meaning_rule

The plain meaning rule, also known as the literal rule, is one of three rules of statutory construction traditionally applied by English courts. The other two are the "mischief rule" and the "golden rule". The plain meaning rule dictates that statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute. In other words, a statute is to be read word for word and is to be interpreted according to the ordinary meaning of the language, unless a statute explicitly defines some of its terms otherwise or unless the result would be cruel or absurd. Ordinary words are given their ordinary meaning, technical terms are given their technical meaning, and local, cultural terms are recognized as applicable. The plain meaning rule is the mechanism that prevents courts from taking sides in legislative or political issues. Additionally, it is the mechanism that underlies textualism and, to a certain extent, originalism.

textualism technical terms originalism

References

See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. §1531(b) (defining "partial-birth abortion" as comprehended by the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003).
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 14, 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20051214130028/http://legaltheorylexicon.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_legaltheorylexicon_archive.html. Retrieved November 20, 2005.
The Absurdity Doctrine, Harvard Law Review, John F. Manning, Vol.116, #8, June, 2003, pp. 2387-2486, [1]
"Delaware Corporate & Commercial Litigation Blog : Highlights & Analysis of Key Decisions from Delaware's Supreme Court & Court of Chancery". http://www.delawarelitigation.com/2007/04/articles/chancery-court-updates/statutory-construction-and-the-absurdity-doctrine-or-scriveners-error-exception/. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
"Avoiding Absurdity by Glen Staszewski :: SSRN". 2006-04-13.
Veronica M Dougherty. "Absurdity and the Limits of Literalism: Defining the Absurd Result Principle in Statutory Interpretation". http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/aulr44&div=12&id=&page=. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
"Absurdity and the Limits of Literalism: Defining the Absurd Result Principle in Statutory Interpretation 44 American University Law Review 1994-1995". http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/aulr44&div=12&id=&page=. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
Whiteley v. Chappel (1868; LR 4 QB 147)
Linzer, Peter (2002). "The Comfort of Certainty: Plain Meaning and the Parole Evidence Rule". Fordham Law Review 71: 799. http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol71/iss3/8. Retrieved August 5, 2014.

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