There has long been debate among many legal scholars as to whether or not “legislative history” can or should be used by the courts to determine the “legislative intent” of congress with regard to particular a statute. An excellent explanation of both sides of this debate can be found in Chapter 8 of William N. Eskridge, Jr., Philip P. Frickey & Elizabeth Garrett, Legislation and Statutory Interpretation, (2nd ed, 2006), Foundation Press, New York, NY, from the Concepts and Insights Series of study aids (available at the Reference Desk: KF 425 .E834). The majority of information contained in this tab came directly from Legislation and Statutory Interpretation.
Considering the many varieties of documents that can be produced during the legislative process, there has naturally developed a hierarchy of importance among the courts that one should considering when reviewing legislative history. Below is a list on the generally agreed upon hierarchy of sources to consult when trying to determine legislative intent.
Hierarchy of Documents / Priority of Importance:
After review of these three primary sources of legislative intent, the remaining priorities vary from statute to statute based on how much documentation was actually generated by congress while debating and passing the bill including:
Finally, “non-congressional” sources can be considered such as:
Once you have found some history that may lead to legislative intent, below are some considerations to keep in mind when determining the amount of weight that should be given to the document:
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