Dynamic Interpretation: The Art of Persuasion
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Michael E. Libonati
The article explores Aristotle's view that the function of rhetoric is "not to persuade but to see the available means of persuasion in each case."The article briefly illustrates the implications of adopting Aristotle's descriptive approach for teaching statutory interpretation.
The article then links the normative approach of "dynamic interpretation" with Aristotle's category epideictic rhetoric. The article suggests that the case for dynamic interpretation is strengthened by insights drawn from social science and the civil law tradition and weakened by reliance on hermeneutics.
Professor Eskridge's argument is praised for its emotional and moral force.
The remarkable disparity between the seminal character of the Eskridge article in the academic literature and the absence of citations in case law and Supreme Court briefs is noted. Several hypotheses accounting for this puzzling disparity are discussed.
The article concludes with an attempt to persuade the scholarly community to engage with the legislature and statutory law as instruments for law reform.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- Attention to Context in Statutory Interpretation: Applying the Lessons of Dynamic Statutory Interpretation to Omnibus Legislation
- Dynamic Statutory Interpretation in the Administrative State
- Dynamic Statutory Interpretation and the Institutional Turn
- Justifying Dynamism
- Accounting for Accountability in Dynamic Statutory Interpretation and Beyond
- The Location and Limits of Dynamic Statutory Interpretation in Modern Judicial Reasoning
- The Dynamic Judicial Opinion
- Should Criminal Statutes Be Interpreted Dynamically?
- Agency Statutory Interpretation
- Statutory Interpretation as Diplomacy
- Earthquakes and Tremors in Statutory Interpretation: An Empirical Study of the Dynamics of Interpretation
- Hypnotized by Images of the Past: Dynamic Interpretation and the Flawed Majoritarianism of Statutory Law
- Dynamic Statutory Drafting: Calculating the Price of Legislative Imprecision
- Dynamic Interpretation: The Art of Persuasion
- Textualism's Exceptions
- The Dynamic Theorization of Statutory Interpretation
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- Attention to Context in Statutory Interpretation: Applying the Lessons of Dynamic Statutory Interpretation to Omnibus Legislation
- Dynamic Statutory Interpretation in the Administrative State
- Dynamic Statutory Interpretation and the Institutional Turn
- Justifying Dynamism
- Accounting for Accountability in Dynamic Statutory Interpretation and Beyond
- The Location and Limits of Dynamic Statutory Interpretation in Modern Judicial Reasoning
- The Dynamic Judicial Opinion
- Should Criminal Statutes Be Interpreted Dynamically?
- Agency Statutory Interpretation
- Statutory Interpretation as Diplomacy
- Earthquakes and Tremors in Statutory Interpretation: An Empirical Study of the Dynamics of Interpretation
- Hypnotized by Images of the Past: Dynamic Interpretation and the Flawed Majoritarianism of Statutory Law
- Dynamic Statutory Drafting: Calculating the Price of Legislative Imprecision
- Dynamic Interpretation: The Art of Persuasion
- Textualism's Exceptions
- The Dynamic Theorization of Statutory Interpretation
