EXACAVATING THE LEGISLATIVE INTENT IN LAW

ABSTRACT Since a long time, a debate has surged that has challenged the viability of what people often refer to as the mystical intention of the legislature. Many great scholars like Max Radin, and eminent jurists like Justice Antonin Scalia, have staunchly challenged the efficacy of legislative intent and claimed that it is but a redundant tool. Their concerns surround the unpredictable nature of this ‘intent’, the impossibility of a collective entity like legislature to acquire ‘intent’, and the presence of different ‘intents’ among constituting members. These concerns have, however, one palpable problem and that is the flawed perception of intent, as intent from a mental faculty. In this paper, the parochial conception of intention is challenged and arguments are put forth to show that legislative intent is not a mere figment of imagination.