Avoiding the Obvious: Plain Meaning and the Endangerment of Alaska’s Hunting Laws in Kinmon v. State
This Comment critiques the court of appeals’ statutory interpretation of Alaska’s hunting laws in Kinmon v. State and proposes legislative reform to correct those judicially created errors. Kinmon arose from a series of hunts between 2009 and 2011 during which nonresident hunters did not pay for the...
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ftdukeunivlaw:oai:scholarship.law.duke.edu:alr-1576 2023-05-15T13:08:49+02:00 Avoiding the Obvious: Plain Meaning and the Endangerment of Alaska’s Hunting Laws in Kinmon v. State McGuire, Brendan Bloomfield, Cormac 2020-06-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/alr/vol37/iss1/7 https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1576&context=alr unknown Duke University School of Law https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/alr/vol37/iss1/7 https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1576&context=alr Alaska Law Review Law text 2020 ftdukeunivlaw 2023-01-23T21:19:32Z This Comment critiques the court of appeals’ statutory interpretation of Alaska’s hunting laws in Kinmon v. State and proposes legislative reform to correct those judicially created errors. Kinmon arose from a series of hunts between 2009 and 2011 during which nonresident hunters did not pay for their big game tags until after the completion of their hunts. The guide leading these hunts was charged with violating section 16.05.340(a)(15) of the Alaska Statutes, which prohibits nonresidents from hunting big game without “previously purchasing” a big game tag. The Alaska Court of Appeals held in favor of the guide, reasoning that “previously purchasing” was ambiguous and could be understood to permit purchase of a big game tag after a hunt. This reading of the statute is faulty under the plain meaning canon of statutory construction and has deleterious policy implications. To address this error, this Comment proposes a legislative amendment to section 16.06.340(a)(15) of the Alaska Statutes to clarify that “previously purchasing” a game tag requires purchase prior to a hunt. Text Alaska law review Alaska Duke Law School Scholarship Repository |
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Law McGuire, Brendan Bloomfield, Cormac Avoiding the Obvious: Plain Meaning and the Endangerment of Alaska’s Hunting Laws in Kinmon v. State |
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Law |
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This Comment critiques the court of appeals’ statutory interpretation of Alaska’s hunting laws in Kinmon v. State and proposes legislative reform to correct those judicially created errors. Kinmon arose from a series of hunts between 2009 and 2011 during which nonresident hunters did not pay for their big game tags until after the completion of their hunts. The guide leading these hunts was charged with violating section 16.05.340(a)(15) of the Alaska Statutes, which prohibits nonresidents from hunting big game without “previously purchasing” a big game tag. The Alaska Court of Appeals held in favor of the guide, reasoning that “previously purchasing” was ambiguous and could be understood to permit purchase of a big game tag after a hunt. This reading of the statute is faulty under the plain meaning canon of statutory construction and has deleterious policy implications. To address this error, this Comment proposes a legislative amendment to section 16.06.340(a)(15) of the Alaska Statutes to clarify that “previously purchasing” a game tag requires purchase prior to a hunt. |
format |
Text |
author |
McGuire, Brendan Bloomfield, Cormac |
author_facet |
McGuire, Brendan Bloomfield, Cormac |
author_sort |
McGuire, Brendan |
title |
Avoiding the Obvious: Plain Meaning and the Endangerment of Alaska’s Hunting Laws in Kinmon v. State |
title_short |
Avoiding the Obvious: Plain Meaning and the Endangerment of Alaska’s Hunting Laws in Kinmon v. State |
title_full |
Avoiding the Obvious: Plain Meaning and the Endangerment of Alaska’s Hunting Laws in Kinmon v. State |
title_fullStr |
Avoiding the Obvious: Plain Meaning and the Endangerment of Alaska’s Hunting Laws in Kinmon v. State |
title_full_unstemmed |
Avoiding the Obvious: Plain Meaning and the Endangerment of Alaska’s Hunting Laws in Kinmon v. State |
title_sort |
avoiding the obvious: plain meaning and the endangerment of alaska’s hunting laws in kinmon v. state |
publisher |
Duke University School of Law |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/alr/vol37/iss1/7 https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1576&context=alr |
genre |
Alaska law review Alaska |
genre_facet |
Alaska law review Alaska |
op_source |
Alaska Law Review |
op_relation |
https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/alr/vol37/iss1/7 https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1576&context=alr |
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1766129342120722432 |