JSI Seminar: Aggregated Legislative Intentions

There is scepticism from certain sectors of legal academia and the judiciary regarding the notion of legislative intent. It seems problematic to say that a large group of people (e.g. parliament) has intent. In this paper David Tan argues that one can understand legislative intent through the lens of aggregation – an aggregation method is any method for selecting a group choice from the mental states of its members. For example, any voting method is an aggregated method. The fact that democracy is based on aggregation does not stop us from saying that “will of the people” is to elect some government. From a communicative perspective, marketing committees might vote for advertisements to communicate certain messages or lead to certain effects. The paper argues that parliament operates in the same way.

About the speaker

David Tan is a lecturer at Deakin Law School where he specialises in legal philosophy – particularly legal interpretation and public law theory. He has published and forthcoming articles in the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, Ratio Juris, and the Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy (now renamed the Journal of Legal Philosophy).

Time: 6-7.30pm

This is an online event. Once you register you will receive the Zoom details.

CPD Points: 1.5

This event is hosted by the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence at The University of Sydney Law School.