Opinion ID: 1473555
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Adoption By Unmarried Couples: A Final Interpretive CriterionLegislative Purpose

Text: We turn to the final interpretive criterion that applies when the statutory language lacks plain meaning: a judicial obligation to effectuate the legislative purpose by reference to the legislative history and the statute as a whole. Peoples Drug Stores, 470 A.2d at 754 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). [38] Is § 16-302 better interpreted inclusively, to permit adoption by unmarried couples if in the child's best interests, or more appropriately construed exclusively, to limit adoptions to married couples assuredly covered by express statutory language? In Peoples Drug Stores, 470 A.2d at 754-55 n. 4, we briefly noted two common approaches to ascertaining legislative purpose: (1) an essentially historical inquiry to determine how the enacting legislature would have answered the specific question the court is facing (legislative intent model), and (2) an attempt to discern the general purpose or policy that motivated the legislature to pass a statute, followed by an effort to construe the statute in the manner most consistent with that purpose (purposive interpretation model). We add two further observations: the less plain the statutory language is, the more likely the focus on legislative intent or statutory purpose will be determinative; and the less clear the answer is to the historical inquiry about how the legislature would have answered the unconsidered question, the more likely an analysis based on general statutory purpose will be conclusive.