Original intent

Original intent is a theory in law concerning constitutional and statutory interpretation. It is frequently – and usually spuriously – used as a synonym for originalism; while original intent is indeed one theory in the originalist family, it has some extremely salient differences which has led originalists from more predominant schools of thought such as original meaning to castigate original intent as much as legal realists do.

Original intent maintains that in interpreting a text, a court should determine what the authors of the text were trying to achieve, and to give effect to what they intended the statute to accomplish, the actual text of the legislation notwithstanding. As in purposivism, tools such as legislative history are often used.

Despite the potential confusion of terms between the original Intent and originalism, other schools of Originalist thought have been as critical of original intent as non-Originalists.

In Canada, the predominant school of thought for legal interpretation is the living tree doctrine, under which interpretations can evolve along with the society, to deal with new conditions that were different or did not exist when the Constitution was framed.

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