Purposive Interpretation in Law

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This book presents a comprehensive theory of legal interpretation, by a leading judge and legal theorist. Currently, legal philosophers and jurists apply different theories of interpretation to constitutions, statutes, rules, wills, and contracts. Aharon Barak argues that an alternative approach--purposive interpretation--allows jurists and scholars to approach all legal texts in a similar manner while remaining sensitive to the important differences. Moreover, regardless of whether purposive interpretation amounts to a unifying theory, it would still be superior to other methods of interpretation in tackling each kind of text separately.

Barak explains purposive interpretation as follows: All legal interpretation must start by establishing a range of semantic meanings for a given text, from which the legal meaning is then drawn. In purposive interpretation, the text's "purpose" is the criterion for establishing which of the semantic meanings yields the legal meaning. Establishing the ultimate purpose--and thus the legal meaning--depends on the relationship between the subjective and objective purposes; that is, between the original intent of the text's author and the intent of a reasonable author and of the legal system at the time of interpretation. This is easy to establish when the subjective and objective purposes coincide. But when they don't, the relative weight given to each purpose depends on the nature of the text. For example, subjective purpose is given substantial weight in interpreting a will; objective purpose, in interpreting a constitution.

Barak develops this theory with masterful scholarship and close attention to its practical application. Throughout, he contrasts his approach with that of textualists and neotextualists such as Antonin Scalia, pragmatists such as Richard Posner, and legal philosophers such as Ronald Dworkin. This book represents a profoundly important contribution to legal scholarship and a major alternative to interpretive approaches advanced by other leading figures in the judicial world.

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Purposive Interpretation in Law Review

This book discusses judicial interpretation in a variety of contexts: not just interpretation of statutes and constitutions, but also of wills and contracts. Justice Barak suggests that while all interpretation requires consideration of the purpose of a legal document, a document can have many different purposes: a subjective purpose (that is, the author's actual intent), a narrowly defined objective purpose (for example, what a reasonable legislator might consider the legislation's purpose to be), or more broadly defined objective purposes (broader social policies animating the legal system as a whole, or at least the general area of law involved).

Barak believes that different documents require different emphasis: judges interpreting wills and contracts should focus more on an author's subjective purposes, because the purpose of such documents is primarily to give effect to the goals of the individuals who drafted such documents. By contrast, constitutional law should focus more on objective purposes because of the broader social interests at stake.

However, Justice Barak discusses and critiques a wide variety of theories other than his own, and discusses the differences between interpretation and other judicial activity.

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