We hesitate to read an entire section out of the United States Code. Once Congress has legislated, the common-law rules courts apply to fill interstices fall away. Courts conform implied remedies to the rules Congress devised for the remedies it authorized expressly, rather then conforming the express provisions to the implied rem- edies. Alyeska shows that Hall cannot be expanded to occupy the field in the way plaintiffs propose, and cases such as Bank of Denver suggest that the limits imposed by sec. This maxim is useless in deciding concrete cases.
Every statute is remedial in the sense that it alters the law or favors one group over an- other.
Knowing that a law is remedial does not tell a court how far to go. A court must determine not only the direction in which a law points but also how far to go in that direction. Plaintiffs could have insisted on obtaining a consent decree embodying the settlement, and if the union refused the plaintiffs could have proceeded to judgment on the documents that had not been produced. A favorable judg- ment by consent or by judicial decision could have served as the foundation for an award of fees. But Congress may choose when to observe forms and when to dispense with them.