Legal Legislative History

[Gregory Matthews]

In another thread, a couple of o9ur members have ben discussing the intent that lies behind the passage of specific statute law.  These discussion have been mainly speculaltive.  The courts do consider the legislative history of a statute law in attempting to rule as to how it is understood and applied.  However, the courts may not consider the legislative history, while of value, to not be probative.

With this in mind, how can one research the legislative history of a specific law.  the Internet.    the following will illustrate some of the sources for the legistrative history of a law:

http://www.loc.gov/law/help/leghist.php

https://law.duke.edu/lib/researchguides/fedleg/

http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/fedlegishist.html

http://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/legislative_history

http://www.llsdc.org/federal-legislative-history-guide

http://ilga.gov/commission/lrb/lrbres.html

[Gregory Matthews]

The following is taken from the last citation in the post above, which says it better than I could.

 

Determining the intention of the legislature is the cardinal rule of statutory construction. Courts seek that intention first in the plain meaning of the statutory language. If the language is ambiguous, however, courts then use intrinsic and extrinsic aids to interpretation. Intrinsic aids include various canons of interpretation, such as expressio unius est exclusio alterius (to express one thing is to exclude another -- negative implication). The legislative history of a Public Act is an extrinsic aid to interpretation. Sulser v. Country Mutual Ins. Co., 147 Ill. 2d 548 (1992); In re October 1985 Grand Jury No. 746, 124 Ill. 2d 466 (1988); Morel v. Coronet Ins. Co., 117 Ill. 2d 18 (1987).

Legislative history includes legislative documents such as bills, adopted amendments, defeated amendments, and conference committee reports; committee testimony, records, debates, and actions; floor debates and actions; and the Governor's messages and actions.

[debbym]

in my brief business law course i loved the study of law.  wonderful use of language and clarity of meaning. so glad you have brought in this thread.

[Gregory Matthews]

Legistrative history is a subject worthy of a 1st year law student in doing the expected research.  It has importance even if it is not probative.