Sorry, I cannot give a reference to the order specifically. It was the way i was taught in the academy. I think it was based on case law rulings, but I cannot say for sure. The trick to it is to see if the word or phrase has acquired a technical meaning by law to go by instead of the common meaning. It is easy when the word is specifically defined for that phrase, but a little harder in cases like this.TX_Jim wrote:I looked up the GC Code Construction Act 311.11 and it does not specifically state the order in which to define a word or phrase as you state. It does say use the common usage or the technical definition or the legislative definition should be construed accordingly.
No, it is an easy thing to get confused on at first glance, but really easy to understand when you think about it.Anyway, that being said, I followed your logic and found that Title 10, chapter 49, does in fact contain a definition for motor vehicle. My problem with this logic is that 49.01 says “Definitions� “in this chapter� and then says that motor vehicle takes on the meaning from 32.34 . I would have to argue that 49.01 “in this chapter� limits the scope of those definitions to that chapter and does not imply that they should be used in any other context. Am I way off base here?
Assume there is a term we need defined. In one chapter, that term was used. If it was the first time they used that term, they probably defined it and used the expression "in this chapter". Later on, if they used the phrase again, they probably referred to the first definition instead of redefining it. If they needed it to mean something different that time, then they redefine it in full.
But this shows that the term now has a technical meaning by law. While it is only used for that chapter, the code construction act tells us to use the technical meaning if there is one. So, when the term is used in another part of the code and not defined, we now know the technical meaning of the term under the law.
Of course, the problem is when the term is defined in different ways in different parts of the code. This is why i was told to use that order. It gives the closest legal meaning from a section that should be similar in general usage.
