intentionalism
1
9.9
- noun
- /ɪnˈtɛnʃənəlɪzəm/
- Formal
- According to intentionalism, understanding a law's purpose requires insights into its original drafter's intentions.
Examples
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Critics of intentionalism believe that focusing solely on original intentions can limit the law's applicability to contemporary issues.
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The legal scholar argued that intentionalism provides a clearer understanding of constitutional law.
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Judge Bork's theory of interpretation was a narrow intentionalism that was in vogue at the time.
Academic text (2008)
Synonyms
3
9.9
A belief that people should read a country's constitution the way its writers meant
Relating to using the purpose or goal to explain laws and texts
Surface Forms
Morphology
intentionalism = intentional (transparent) = intention + al + ism
Standard nominalization from the adjective 'intentional' using '-ism' to denote a legal theory or doctrine; the morphological relation is direct even if the application is specialized.
Etymology
The word intentionalism comes from intent meaning 'intention' and the suffix -ism meaning 'belief'. Think of reading a law by asking what the lawmakers 'meant' when they wrote it, because intentionalism says the makers' original aim should guide how the law is read.