Original Meaning

In the context of United States constitutional interpretation, original meaning is the dominant form of the legal theory of originalism today. It was made popular by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and contends that the terms of the United States Constitution should be interpreted as meaning what they meant when they were ratified, which is to say, it asks the question: "What would a reasonable person living at the time of ratification have understood these words to mean?"

The theory stands in equal opposition to interpretivist theories such as original intent, and legal realist theories such as that of the Living Constitution.

Read more about Original Meaning:  Theory, Practice, Origins

Famous quotes containing the words original and/or meaning:

    The Spacious Firmament on high,
    With all the blue Ethereal Sky,
    And spangled Heav’ns, a Shining Frame,
    Their great Original proclaim:
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    Does his Creator’s Pow’r display,
    And publishes to every Land
    The Work of an Almighty Hand.
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    The novelist’s—any writer’s—object is to whittle down his meaning to the exactest and finest possible point. What, of course, is fatal is when he does not know what he does mean: he has no point to sharpen.
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