LEGISLATIVE INTENT
legislative intent. The design or plan that the legislature had at the time of enacting a statute.¡ª Also termed intention of the legislature; intent of the legislature; congressional intent; parliamentary intent. [Cases: Statutes 181(1). C.J.S. Statutes ¡ì 315.]
¡°The intention of the legislature is a common but very slippery phrase, which, popularly understood, may signify anything from intention embodied in positive enactment to speculative opinion as to what the legislature probably would have meant, although there has been an omission to enact it. In a court of law or equity, what the legislature intended to be done or not to be done can only be legitimately ascertained from that which it has chosen to enact, either in express words or by reasonable and necessary implication.¡± Saloman v. Saloman & Co., [1897] A.C. 22, at 38 (as quoted in Rupert Cross, Statutory Interpretation 36¨C37 (1976)).
dormant legislative intent. The intent that the legislature would have had if a given ambiguity, inconsistency, or omission had been called to the legislators’ minds. ¡ª Sometimes shortened to dormant intent.
¡ª Also termed latent intent; latent intention.
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