The Craft of Legal Interpretation

Wendel, W. Bradley

Abstract

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The Craft of Legal Interpretation

W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell University - School of Law

November 23, 2011

INTERPRETATION OF LAW IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT, Yasutomo Morigiwa, Michael Stolleis and Jean-Louis Halperin, eds., Springer, July 2011
Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11-34

Abstract:
Legal scholars sometimes demand too much from legal determinacy or objectivity. In order for the law to perform its social function, it must be possible to identify well grounded legal positions and differentiate them from positions that lack sufficient support in the law. Using the example of the US government legal opinions authorizing torture, this chapter argues that lawyers can evaluate legal judgments for their plausibility. If this argument is sound, then as an ethical matter lawyers can be required to take responsibility for the quality of the legal advice they give to clients, and can be criticized in ethical terms for manipulating or abusing the law in the service of clients.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 36

Keywords: Objectivity, interpretation, legal advising

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Date posted: November 25, 2011

Suggested Citation

Wendel, W. Bradley, The Craft of Legal Interpretation (November 23, 2011). INTERPRETATION OF LAW IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT, Yasutomo Morigiwa, Michael Stolleis and Jean-Louis Halperin, eds., Springer, July 2011; Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11-34. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1963882

Contact Information

W. Bradley Wendel (Contact Author)

Cornell University - School of Law ( email )

Myron Taylor Hall
Lewis Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States