Equitable construction applies only to remedial statutes, not to rules of public policy

Evidence

The statute of descents neither recognizes a mischief nor provides aredy.It-4-a-tegislative declaration of a rule of public pi&Iy. “ith respect to remedial statutes, the rule quoted has frequent lid salutary operation. The mischief and the remedy indicate the intention of the legislature, and guide the court in giving it effect. but the rule affords no warrant for adding an important exception to a statute which, in clear language, defines a rule of public policy. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1863

Categorization

• DEFINE: Delimits the ‘equitable construction’ doctrine: it lets courts go beyond statutory text to reach the mischief only when the statute is remedial, not when it declares a settled rule of public policy.
• XREF: connects to: Equitable construction can restrain, enlarge, or contradict a statute’s letter — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1903