SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

I. INTRODUCTION. 2

1.  What is “law”? 3

2.  In particular, what is “the common law”? 5

3. How is the judicial system organized? 15

4.  How is legislative activity organized? 24

5. Are legal methods static, or have they varied over time, as society and its legal institutions have developed? 31

 

II. THE AGE OF DISCOVERY..... 37

A. INITIAL ENCOUNTERS 37

(1) A First Exercise in Statutory Construction 37

(2) A First Case ─ Swift v. Tyson 41

B.  COMMON-LAW COURTS ENCOUNTERING NEW ISSUES.. 51

C. THE EFFECT OF A PRECEDENT ON A SUBSEQUENT CASE.... 73

D.  SYNTHESIS.... 85

 

III. THE AGE OF FAITH........ 105

A.  DEVELOPING PRODUCT LIABILITY 105

B.  ON WRONGFUL DEATH AND THE RELATION BETWEEN THE COMMON LAW AND STATUTES.. 116

C. WORKPLACE SAFETY AND THE RAILROADS.. 126

THE FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY APPLIANCES ACT OF 1893........... 140

THREE SAFETY APPLIANCES ACT PROBLEMS........... 142

LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND TO THE FEDERAL RAILWAY SAFETY
APPLIANCES ACT 144

1. Presidential messages........... 144

2. House of Representatives Committee Report........... 146

3. Senate Debates........... 153

THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RAILWAY SAFETY APPLIANCES ACT........... 190

THE COURTS ENCOUNTER THE RSA 205

 

IV.  THE AGE OF ANXIETY........ 241

A.  THE LIMITS OF FORMALISM.. 241

B.  THE PRODUCT LIABILITY/WARRANTY SYNTHESIS THROUGH THE 30'S.. 252

C.  FURTHER ON A SAFE WORKPLACE, WRONGFUL DEATH, AND THE USES OF STATUTES.. 293

(1)  Changing Legal Institutions. 293

(2)  Changing Judicial Approaches to Statutory Materials. 298

 (3) The Place of Custom 311

 (4) Reconciling Statutory and Judicially-Created Remedies in the Workplace 314

D.  THE SUPREME COURT ADJUSTS ITS ROLE IN RESPECT OF (STATE) COMMON LAW .. 331

E.  THE SUPREME COURT ADJUSTS ITS ROLE IN RESPECT OF STATUTES AND THEIR  INTERPRETATION.. 338

NOTES ON POST NEW-DEAL STATUTORY INTERPRETATION 349

(1) What the Legislators Meant 352

NOTES ON THE EVALUATION OF LEGISLATIVE HISTORY..... 361

(2)  What the Words Mean 365

(3)  Statutes-in-Context 374

NOTES ON ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY INTERPRETATION........... 386

F.  A QUARTET OF THEORETICAL WRITINGS..... 391

 

IV. MODERN TIMES........ 411

A.   FURTHER ON THE QUESTION OF PRODUCT LIABILITY 411

B.  CONTEMPORARY STATUTORY INTERPRETATION – THE NEW TEXTUALISM AND THE FEE REIMBURSEMENT PROBLEM.. 450

1.  Setting the Context – Attorney Fee Reimbursement for the Parents of Children Wrongly Denied Special Care by Their School Board 457

2.  Congress Responds to Smith 480

I. Hearings........... 482

II. S. 415........... 483

III. H.R. 1523........... 500

IV. Conference Report........... 516

3.  The Judicial/Legislative Dialogue Continues 527

4.  The Problem Solved? 560

5. Modern Scholarly Writings About the Interpretation Problem 569

a. Historical perspectives........... 570

b.  Scholars (and scholar-judges) associated with Law and Economics........... 573

c. Textualists........... 579

d. Purposivists........... 593

6. Recent Supreme Court Efforts – Resolution? 617

C. MORE ON THE PROBLEM OF AGENCY INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES.. 654

D. WHAT’S A JUDGE TO DO?.. 677