Download This PaperEjusdem Generis: What Is It Good For?
Joseph Kimble, Ejusdem Generis: What Is It Good For?, 100 Judicature 48 (2016).
10 Pages Posted: 4 Jul 2016 Last revised: 6 Jul 2016
Date Written: May 1, 2016
Abstract
This article criticizes the canon of construction called ejusdem generis. The article covers the views of legislative drafters and commentators; the canon’s many qualifications; its considerable uncertainty and malleability; its relation to the canon noscitur a sociis; and its use in United States v. Kaluza (Fifth Circuit) and Yates v. United States (Supreme Court). It also includes advice for drafters.
Keywords: textualism. judicial interpretation, canons of constructions, ejusdem generis, noscitur a sociis, Yates v. United States
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