Undefined technical terms in statutes take the meaning trade usage gives them.

Evidence

In Order of Railway Conductors of America v. Swan, 329 U.S. 520, 525, 67 s.ct. 405, 408, 91 L.ad. 471, it was said that, in the absence of statutory definition of a technical tern found only in railroad parlance, “evidence as to the meaning attached to it by those who are familiar with such parlance therefore beccams relevant in determining the meaning of the term as used by Congress.” O’Hara v. Luckenbach 8.S. Co., 269 U.S. 364, 370-371, 46 s.Ct. 157, 159, 70 L.Ed. 313, was cited. There, it was held that the phrase “‘divided into * * * watches’” should, in construing the Seamen’s Act, 46 U.S.C.A. a 673, be given the meaning which it had acquired in the language and usage of the nautical trade. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 2643

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to the platform-ride chomp of Ch. 20 that word meanings are social facts fixed by community usage. — connects to: Regulated trade terms bind licensees to their defined meanings — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1576; Literal statutory interpretations are defeasible starting points — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 303

Broader Connections

• Regulated trade terms bind licensees to their defined meanings #expands (0.85) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1576
• Literal statutory interpretations are defeasible starting points #qualifies (0.72) — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 303