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Supreme Court· 2/28/1938

Hassett v. Welch

Citations

  • 303 U.S. 303
  • 58 S. Ct. 559
  • 82 L. Ed. 858
  • 1938 U.S. LEXIS 401
  • 1 C.B. 490
  • 20 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 772

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

  • holding that where one statute incorporates provisions from another statute “by a specific and descriptive reference,” the incorporated provision functions in the incorporating statute “as it exist[ed] at the time of adoption”
  • recognizing and applying well settled rule of statutory construction that a law is presumed to operate prospectively in absence of clear expression to the contrary
  • noting that “a facially specific legislative reference may, in fact, constitute a general legislative reference”
  • noting that when a statute adopts the provisions of another statute, the adoption incorporates the statute as it existed at that time and does not include subsequent amendments to the adopted statute, unless a contrary intent is indicated
  • turning to “extrinsic aids to statutory construction” because the court could not “give full literal effect to the words appearing in the original and in the amended incorporating provision”
  • “[A] law is presumed, in the absence of clear expression to the contrary, to operate prospectively|.]”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Roberts, Cardozo, Reed

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Cited by

288 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Cites

21 cases in this archive are cited by this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Other cases named Hassett v. Welch

1 other CourtListener record shares this case name.

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.