A Commentary on the Interpretations of Statutes

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The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2005 - Law - 871 pages

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Page 164 - And be it further enacted, that every will shall be construed, with reference to the real estate and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.
Page 733 - Every railroad company shall have the right with its road to intersect, connect with, or cross, any other railroad; and shall receive and transport each the other's passengers, tonnage, and cars, loaded or empty, without delay or discrimination.
Page 344 - All laws should receive a sensible construction. General terms should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence. It will always, therefore, be presumed that the legislature intended exceptions to its language, which would avoid results of this character. The reason of the law in such cases should prevail over its letter.
Page 367 - Upon principle, every statute which takes away or impairs vested rights acquired under existing laws, or creates a new obligation, imposes a new duty, or attaches a new disability, in respect to transactions or considerations already past, must be deemed retrospective.
Page 138 - shall include every description of vessel used in navigation not propelled by oars...
Page 563 - THAT no Claim which may be lawfully made at the Common Law, by Custom, Prescription or Grant, to any Right of Common or other Profit or Benefit to be taken and enjoyed from or upon any Land...
Page 590 - All corporations, whether public or private, derive their powers from legislative grant, and can do no act for which authority is not expressly given, or may not be reasonably inferred. But if we were to say that they can do nothing for which a warrant could not be found in the language of their charters, we should deny them, in some cases, the power of self-preservation, as well as many of the means necessary to effect the essential objects of their incorporation.
Page 164 - ... at the time of the death of the testator, such devise shall not lapse, but shall take effect as if the death of such person had happened immediately after the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will.
Page 353 - Wensleydale used to call the golden rule is right, viz., that we are to take the whole statute together, and construe it all together, giving the words their ordinary signification, unless when so applied they produce an inconsistency, or an absurdity or inconvenience so great as to convince the Court that the intention could not have been to use them in their ordinary signification, and to justify the Court in putting on them some other signification, which, though less proper, is one which the...

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