Dissecting and Understanding Statutes

When reading a statute, keep in mind that this stuff isn’t necessarily written by someone with a law degree. What do I mean? Legislators do not have to have a law degree to get elected.

Statutes are introduced into the legislature by a legislator in each house. For the federal government, that means it is introduced by a representative in the house and a senator in the senate. The same concept applies to the individual states.

You will find throughout your legal career that statutes may appear convoluted and in need of pruning, separating things out into individual sentences. But that is not the best thing to do. Sometimes by having that run-on sentence, it makes statutory interpretation easier.

For example: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (3). (3) Child with a disability (A) In general The term "child with a disability" means a child - (i) with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (hereinafter referred to as "emotional disturbance"), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and (ii) who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (3). (3) Child with a disability (A) In general The term "child with a disability" means a child - (i) with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (hereinafter referred to as "emotional disturbance"), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and (ii) who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. Note how this particular statute lists a number of specific items as constituting disabilities, while leaving the terms general enough to include something not specifically listed. This particular subsection is from the definitions section of the law. By having all these various descriptions in ONE sentence, each is made equal when interpreting this definition. If this was split up into multiple sentences, then there is an interpretive argument that if the terms are in separate then they should receive separate attention.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (3). (3) Child with a disability (A) In general The term "child with a disability" means a child - (i) with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (hereinafter referred to as "emotional disturbance"), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and (ii) who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. Mind you, this is not to say how to write, but it is how legislative writing must be in order to head off alternate interpretations from what the legislature was intending.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (3). (3) Child with a disability (A) In general The term "child with a disability" means a child - (i) with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (hereinafter referred to as "emotional disturbance"), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and (ii) who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. Looking at this definition, note that there are two parts. The first part lists what would be considered mental, emotional, or physical impairments that would indicate a child would fall within the definition of child with a disability.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1401 (3). (3) Child with a disability (A) In general The term "child with a disability" means a child - (i) with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (hereinafter referred to as "emotional disturbance"), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and (ii) who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. The second part narrows that application of the term by limiting “child with disability” to include only children who fall within the categories in part one who need education assistance because of those disabilities. If a child does not need educational assistance, even if they fall within a category, then they do not fall within the definition of “child with a disability.”

Questions 1.Who enacted this statute? 2.Is this statutory mandatory or discretionary? What causal term in the statute helped you answer this question? 3.According to this statute, what are the three ways that a person can be denied unemployment benefits in New Mexico? Must a person do all three things to be disqualified from receiving benefits, or is it enough that they only do one of the listed things? What term in the statute helped you answer this question? 4.Are there any exceptions to this statute? If so, which of the three ways of being denied unemployment compensation do the exceptions apply to? 5.Provide the Bluebook citation for this statute.