User:Visviva/Ratio legis
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Ratio legis' (Latin for "reason for the law') is a legal term that means interpreting a statute or legal norm according to its underlying reason for existing in the legal system. The concept of ratio legis is most widely employed in statutory interpretation in the civil law tradition. In that tradition it is distinguished from ratio iuris, which is a reason underlying a fundamental principle of the legal system; however, when these terms are used in the common law tradition they may be used interchangeably.[1]
Ratio legis is a teleological principle of interpretation, often employed in arguments relating to legal analogies. The principle of interpretation, which is associated with traditional Enlightenment philosophers such as Samuel Pufendorf, Hugo Grotius, and William Blackstone, contrasts with the modernist program of legal philosophy, which instead tends to deny the relevance of norms in the process of statutory interpretation.[2] With ratio legis, the interpreter tries to base the interpretation of the statute on a reason that is rarely expressed in the statutory text.
The process of interpretation by ratio legis is difficult, and easily attacked, as its conclusions are often based on implicit premises. It is therefore usually used only as a last resort.
Ratio legis began to be claimed for judgments during the Middle Ages in European countries with parliaments influenced by Roman law and scholasticism. It was then asserted as a legal principle against popular customs and against common law. The principle is therefore partly related to natural law, and the theory of ratio legis may be referred to as "interpretive naturalism".[2]
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[edit]Category:Legal interpretation Category:Latin legal terminology