Long-accepted administrative or popular constructions can fix statutory meaning.

Evidence

An administrative or popular construction is relevant for different reasons. Such a construction affords weighty evidence that the words mar bear the meaning involved. In the absence of reasons of self-interest or the like for discounting the construction, it is persuasive evidence that the meaning is a natural one. Considerations of the stability of transactions and of existing understandings counsel in favor of its acceptance, if possible. In cases where the construction has been widely accepted and consistently adhered, if may be said to fix the meaning - to bg the meaning which experience has demonstrated the words do bear. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3558

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to how institutional practice — not just text — comes to define statutory meaning over time, a running theme across all four courses. — connects to: Congressional inaction following judicial construction can count as adoption of that construction — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3273; Statutory meaning in doubt resolves by sponsors’ words, not opponents’ fears. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1780; A settled statutory interpretation binds later courts like law, not dictum. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3173 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Statutory language is a social institution constraining what words can mean #corroborates (0.80) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3510