Ethan J. Leib (Fordham University School of Law) has posted Should Statutory Interpretation and Contract Interpretation Be Harmonized? (52 Journal of Legislation, Volume 52, No.1 (forthcoming Fall 2025)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This paper develops four case studies about how states have harmonized or separated their statutory interpretation regimes and their contract interpretation regimes. After exploring the choices of Texas, Alaska, New York, and Alabama—all of which take different approaches to their lumping or splitting—the paper seeks to make state courts more aware of what their options are; to help states think about whether their commitments to formalism or contextualism make sense to apply in both domains; and to help them evaluate their meta-choices about whether to bring their interpretive regimes closer together or further apart.
Highly recommended.
