Mechanical Turk Jurisprudence

Abstract

This paper argues that data-driven interpretation creates a “Mechanical Turk” jurisprudence: a jurisprudence that appears mechanical but in fact is thoroughly human.

Its contribution to the literature is twofold.

First, it articulates an intellectual history of data-driven interpretation: data-driven tools have been adopted because society associates quantification with a mechanical objectivity and because objectivity is at the center of debates over statutory interpretation.

Second, it criticizes surveys as an interpretative tool: in addition to a host of practical execution problems, surveys misunderstand the concept of “ordinary meaning” and threaten to undermine the value of faithful agency.

Keywords: statutory interpretation, experimental jurisprudence, textualism, purposivism, surveys, corpus linguistics, Drax, faithful agency