Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-17-2012

Publication Title

State Tax Notes

Publication Title (Abbreviation)

St. Tax Notes

Volume

64

First Page

793

Last Page

797

Abstract

Previous installments of this column have examined numerous canons or conventions of statutory interpretation in their application to state and local tax controversies. This installment considers another canon: the precept that courts should prefer interpretations that render no part of a statute superfluous. A recent treatise phrased the principle thus:

If possible, every word and every provision [of an enactment] is to be given effect. . . . None should be ignored. None should needlessly be given an interpretation that causes it to duplicate another provision or to have no consequence.

The first part below describes the canon generally. The second part identifies the reasons advanced for the precept, the objections lodged against it, and the limitations on it. The third part gives examples of the canon in state and local tax cases, both cases in which its assertion was successful and cases in which its use failed.

Rights

© 2012 Steve R. Johnson

Comments

First published in State Tax Notes.

Faculty Biography

http://www.law.fsu.edu/our-faculty/profiles/johnson

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