sensible construction
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 271 U.S. 354 - United States v. Katz · 1926Most cited · 573 citing opinions
All laws are to be given a sensible construction; and a literal application of a statute, which would lead to absurd consequences, should be avoided whenever a reasonable application can be given to it, consistent with the legislative purpose
How often courts cite the case defining “sensible construction”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “sensible construction” — 573 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.