"There Is No Textualist Position: Why a Text Can Only Mean What Its Author Intends" by Stanley Fish

Article

There Is No Textualist Position: Why a Text Can Only Mean What Its Author Intends

Sibley Lecture Series

Stanley Fish, Florida International University

Stanley Fish, a nationally recognized legal and literary scholar, delivered the 101st Sibley Lecture at the University of Georgia School of Law on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 4:30 p.m. in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom.

Event Date

3-8-2006

Abstract

Textualists – those who interpret the law or the Constitution by determining what its text meant when the statute or law was ratified – are wrong. The only true meaning of any text is the meaning that its author intends.

Citation Information

Stanley Fish. "There Is No Textualist Position: Why a Text Can Only Mean What Its Author Intends" (2006)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/stanley-fish/9/