Stumpf, Donald L.

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Cases on the Interpretation of Statutes (Book Review)

St. John's University School of Law

St. John's Law Review Volume 6 Number 1 Volume 6, December 1931, Number 1 Article 41 June 2014 Cases on the Interpretation of Statutes (Book Review) Donald L. Stumpf Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview Recommended Citation Stumpf, Donald L. (1931) "Cases on the Interpretation of Statutes (Book Review)," St. John's Law Review: Vol. 6 : No. 1 , Article 41. Available at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/lawreview/vol6/iss1/41 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in St. John's Law Review by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact selbyc@stjohns.edu. BOOK REVIEWSEditor-R.YmOND C. WILLIAMS"Alongside of the practitioners to whom the law isa ragbag from which they pick the piece and colorthat they w'ant, there have been some studentswho have striven to inake their knowledge organic."JUsTICE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES,Collected Legal Papers, p. 285.CASES ON THE INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES. By Frederick Joseph de Sloovere.St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1931, pp. xxiii., 970.This latest and worthy addition to the American Casebook Series is acollection of some 337 cases, covering 948 pages, with an introductory essay onthe technique of statutory interpretation by Dean Roscoe Pound of HarvardLaw School. Over two-thirds of the cases were decided before 1900 and lessthan one-tenth since 1920. Yet room has been found for the very recent andinteresting decision of Justice Holmes in McBoyle v. United States.' Unques-tionably the cases have been carefully selected and the editor's shears prudentlyused. In the footnotes, which are unusually complete for a work of this kind,references are made to numerous articles and notes upon important topics. Theusual table of cases and an adequate index are included.The timeliness of this work is manifest. As Dean Pound points out in hisintroduction, "an increasingly large part of the authoritative materials ofjudicial decision," on the basis of which practicing attorneys must advise theirclients, is in the form of legislation. The task of successfully predicting thecourt's interpretation of the legislative intent in a given case has been renderedmore difficult, on account of the fact that the technique of interpretation ofstatutes has been sadly neglected by American legal scholars, with the resultthat the modes of statement and terminology habitually employed have beensubjected to intense criticism. Fortunately, of late, the legal profession hassought to arrange the canons and rules for statutory construction in orderlyfashion; in short, an earnest effort is now being made to make a true scienceof statutory interpretation. To meet a growing interest, special courses in thesubject have been springing up in the major law schools of the country.The present collection is due to the need of such a work experienced bythe compiler in his instructions upon the subject. The division of the bookand its classification are based upon his desire to make the book practical forclassroom use. The success of his plan must await such actual experience.Part 1 deals generally with preliminary problems, such as judicial notice andproof, the functions of legislature, the courts and the jury in interpretingstatutes and the nature of principles of construction. Part 2 develops thecanons of interpretation, dealing first with the meaning as determined by the'283 U. S. 25, 51 Sup. 'Ct. Rep. 340 (1931) (Prosecution under NationalMotor Vehicle Theft Act for transporting a stolen airplane).192 ST. JOHN'S LAW REVIEWvery words of the statute. Following, the rules are developed under thesesubheadings: subject-matter and purpose, context, associated words, parts ofstatute in relation to the whole, extrinsic aids, statutes in relation to otherstatutes and in relation to the traditional law. In Part 3 various special prob-lems as to interpretation and application of the statute in conjunction withexisting law are dealt with and an attempt is made to classify them. Finally,in Part 4, the editor deals with the operation and effect of statutes, includingtime of taking effect, prospective and retrospective operation, judicial changeof construction, and repeal.As the editor indicates in the preface, no attempt was made to show theactual state of the authorities. While such a step may be somewhat beyondthe purpose of the casebook, the result would have been worthy of th6 effort;as the book would have been indispensable to the practicing attorney. Moreregrettable is the omission of commentaries on the various topics. Those whocome in contact with the learned compiler marvel at the depth of his thinkingand the clearness of his reasoning. A permanent record of his cogitations onthe art of interpreting statutes in the form of footnotes would, indeed, haveadded a priceless ingredient. As matters stand, there is every reason to believethat the casebook will be widely adopted for use in the classroom.DONALD L. STUMPF.New York, N. Y.JURISDIcTION AND PROCEDURE OF THE FEDERAL COURTS. By John C. Rose. (4thedition) Albany: Matthew Bender & Company (1931), pp. 993.With this new edition of Rose's Federal Procedure, we have the assuranceof no less an authority than Judge Knox that the volume "is worthy of a placein the library of every practitioner and judge in the federal courts." This highpraise is indeed borne out by an examination of the book itself. Here thepractitioner will find in easily available form, exhaustively indexed, a terse anddefinitive statement of the entire law governing procedure in the federal courts,with ample annotation and reference to decided cases. The numerous decisionscollected in the footnotes make the book invaluable as a case finder and thesententious manner in which the rules are stated make it extremely useful as aready reference book. The field is one which it is difficult to organize properly,yet the editors have done a masterly job in bringing the book up to date and incollating all the material on the subject. It is difficult to see how one canpractice in the federal courts without having it by his hand.This new edition also contains very valuable forms and a complete tableof all cases cited. The statements are always reliable and the citations alwaysin point.M. F.

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