PDF Principles of Interpretation Download
- Author: Steven T. Levy
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
- ISBN: 1568217986
- Category : Psychology
- Languages : en
- Pages : 238
A systematic introduction to interpretation as a technical therapeutic skill.
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Introduction to abstract interpretation, with examples of applications to the semantics, specification, verification, and static analysis of computer programs. Formal methods are mathematically rigorous techniques for the specification, development, manipulation, and verification of safe, robust, and secure software and hardware systems. Abstract interpretation is a unifying theory of formal methods that proposes a general methodology for proving the correctness of computing systems, based on their semantics. The concepts of abstract interpretation underlie such software tools as compilers, type systems, and security protocol analyzers. This book provides an introduction to the theory and practice of abstract interpretation, offering examples of applications to semantics, specification, verification, and static analysis of programming languages with emphasis on calculational design. The book covers all necessary computer science and mathematical concepts--including most of the logic, order, linear, fixpoint, and discrete mathematics frequently used in computer science--in separate chapters before they are used in the text. Each chapter offers exercises and selected solutions. Chapter topics include syntax, parsing, trace semantics, properties and their abstraction, fixpoints and their abstractions, reachability semantics, abstract domain and abstract interpreter, specification and verification, effective fixpoint approximation, relational static analysis, and symbolic static analysis. The main applications covered include program semantics, program specification and verification, program dynamic and static analysis of numerical properties and of such symbolic properties as dataflow analysis, software model checking, pointer analysis, dependency, and typing (both for forward and backward analysis), and their combinations. Principles of Abstract Interpretation is suitable for classroom use at the graduate level and as a reference for researchers and practitioners.
This book is uplifting and inspiring as it enhances the reader's understanding of how to compellingly interpret our cultural and natural legacy. The 15 guiding principles set forth in this book will assist anyone who works in parks, forests, wildlife refuges, zoos, museums, historic areas, nature centres, and tourism sites to more effectively, and joyously, conduct their work. This book, updated and in its second edition, has been used internationally and has been translated into Chinese. It serves as inspirational reading for students in environmental education, forestry, conservation, history, communications, outdoor recreation, and park management.
This book presents a comprehensive theory of legal interpretation, by a leading judge and legal theorist. Currently, legal philosophers and jurists apply different theories of interpretation to constitutions, statutes, rules, wills, and contracts. Aharon Barak argues that an alternative approach--purposive interpretation--allows jurists and scholars to approach all legal texts in a similar manner while remaining sensitive to the important differences. Moreover, regardless of whether purposive interpretation amounts to a unifying theory, it would still be superior to other methods of interpretation in tackling each kind of text separately. Barak explains purposive interpretation as follows: All legal interpretation must start by establishing a range of semantic meanings for a given text, from which the legal meaning is then drawn. In purposive interpretation, the text's "purpose" is the criterion for establishing which of the semantic meanings yields the legal meaning. Establishing the ultimate purpose--and thus the legal meaning--depends on the relationship between the subjective and objective purposes; that is, between the original intent of the text's author and the intent of a reasonable author and of the legal system at the time of interpretation. This is easy to establish when the subjective and objective purposes coincide. But when they don't, the relative weight given to each purpose depends on the nature of the text. For example, subjective purpose is given substantial weight in interpreting a will; objective purpose, in interpreting a constitution. Barak develops this theory with masterful scholarship and close attention to its practical application. Throughout, he contrasts his approach with that of textualists and neotextualists such as Antonin Scalia, pragmatists such as Richard Posner, and legal philosophers such as Ronald Dworkin. This book represents a profoundly important contribution to legal scholarship and a major alternative to interpretive approaches advanced by other leading figures in the judicial world.
In an ideal world, the laws of Congress--known as federal statutes--would always be clearly worded and easily understood by the judges tasked with interpreting them. But many laws feature ambiguous or even contradictory wording. How, then, should judges divine their meaning? Should they stick only to the text? To what degree, if any, should they consult aids beyond the statutes themselves? Are the purposes of lawmakers in writing law relevant? Some judges, such as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, believe courts should look to the language of the statute and virtually nothing else. Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit respectfully disagrees. In Judging Statutes, Katzmann, who is a trained political scientist as well as a judge, argues that our constitutional system charges Congress with enacting laws; therefore, how Congress makes its purposes known through both the laws themselves and reliable accompanying materials should be respected. He looks at how the American government works, including how laws come to be and how various agencies construe legislation. He then explains the judicial process of interpreting and applying these laws through the demonstration of two interpretative approaches, purposivism (focusing on the purpose of a law) and textualism (focusing solely on the text of the written law). Katzmann draws from his experience to show how this process plays out in the real world, and concludes with some suggestions to promote understanding between the courts and Congress. When courts interpret the laws of Congress, they should be mindful of how Congress actually functions, how lawmakers signal the meaning of statutes, and what those legislators expect of courts construing their laws. The legislative record behind a law is in truth part of its foundation, and therefore merits consideration.
This book reviews the primary rules courts apply to discern a statute's meaning. However, each matter of interpretation before a court presents its own challenges, and there is no unified, systematic approach used in all cases. While schools of statutory interpretation may vary on what factors should be considered, all approaches start (if not necessarily end) with the language and structure of the statute itself. In analyzing a statute's text, courts are guided by the basic principle that a statute should be read as a harmonious whole, with its separate parts being interpreted within their broader statutory context.
The 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties makes no express reference to many of the most common canons and interpretative principles derived from international jurisprudence over many years. This volume represents the first modern, freestanding analysis of such canons and principles, their role in treaty interpretation and their relationship with the Vienna Convention regime. A top-flight roster of respected scholars and practitioners of public international law offers an in-depth examination of, among other things: • the origins of canons and interpretive principles; • their utility and limits in treaty interpretation; and • the application of numerous individual canons and interpretive principles, including effet utile, expressio unius, lex specialis, ejusdem generis, in dubio mitius, in pari materia, ex abundante cautela, the principles of contemporaneity and evolutive interpretation, and more. Extensive analysis of case law and scholarship provides insightful interpretive guidance across virtually every subfield of public international law. With its valuable insights into when the application of particular canons or principles of interpretation is most likely to be appropriate and persuasive, the volume will be of great value to lawyers representing parties (whether states, corporations or individuals) before international dispute resolution bodies, as well as to judges and arbitrators, legal officials at ministries of foreign affairs, and scholars of public international law.