How does a court determine the legislative intent of a statute? What sources provide this information??

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

To determine the legislative intent of a statute, the court determines the meaning of the statute by attempting to find out why the legislators chose to word the statute as they did or, more generally, what the legislators sought to accomplish by enacting the statute.To learn the intent of the legislators who wrote a particular law, it is often necessary to investigate the legislative history of the statute. At the federal level, this can be done by researching sources such as committee reports, records of congressional hearings, and other proceedings. The easiest way to locate these sources is to refer to the unofficial, annotated versions of the federal code, such as the U.S.C.A. and the U.S.C.S. These codes often contain information regarding the legislative history of a statute. For example, the statute's date of passage is included, as are cross-references to sources that provide more detailed information on a statute's legislative history. Each source will likely lead to other useful sources. Additional helpful resources in this area include the Congressional Record, the United States Code Congressional and Administrative News, and the Congressional Information Service.?