The Interpretation of Court Opinions

Abstract

What kind of argument is acceptable for this or that interpretation when the text is a court’s opinion? There is plenty of discussion about literary, constitutional, and statutory interpretation. Is it acceptable to import their tenets or theories to the interpretation of court opinions? This paper goes over the leading views on literary, constitutional, and statutory interpretation to compare them with the needs of the court opinions’ interpretation. The author argues that one must interpret court opinions according to the pragmatic model and endeavor to understand the meaning the judge intended for the text.