Drafters concealed sweeping powers behind innocuous-sounding definitions.

Evidence

Deviousness was used in other sections of the act he drafted as well. Section eight, for example, entitled “General Powers,” supposedly enumerated the powers of the Long Island State Park Commission over its land, and the powers enumerated in this section seemed innocuous enough. But in succeeding sections of the act, each power was “defined,” and each successive definition broadened the commission’s authority. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 776

Categorization

• SEED: Essay angle on how legal definitional widening lets statutes grant powers their plain text hides.
• XREF: connects to: A victor’s draft language can be inferred from textual traces — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 969; Drafters hid securities within ‘services, rights and interests’ to bypass SEC oversight. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 764; The Thirteenth Amendment’s drafters intended broad civil-rights power beyond chattel slavery — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 857 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Drafters hid securities within ‘services, rights and interests’ to bypass SEC oversight. #exemplifies (0.90) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 764
• The Thirteenth Amendment’s drafters intended broad civil-rights power beyond chattel slavery #exemplifies (0.85) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 857
• Legal writing can encode hidden agendas and power shifts. #expands (0.80) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 449
• A victor’s draft language can be inferred from textual traces #expands (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 969