Opinion ID: 3051283
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plain Meaning of “Law”

Text: [1] We begin with the text of § 545. See Carson Harbor Village, Ltd. v. Unocal Corp., 270 F.3d 863, 877 (9th Cir. 2001) (en banc) (“ ‘[W]e look first to the plain language of the statute . . . to ascertain the intent of Congress.’ ”) (citations omitted). In common usage, the term “law” does not always, or perhaps even usually, include a “regulation.” The 2004 edition of Black’s Law Dictionary defines “law” narrowly as “a statute.” But it also defines “law” more broadly as “[t]he aggregate of legislation, judicial precedents, and accepted legal principles; the body of authoritative grounds of judicial and administrative action; esp., the body of rules, standards, and principles that the courts of a particular jurisUNITED STATES v. ALGHAZOULI 1949 diction apply[.]” Black’s Law Dictionary 900 (8th ed. 2004). Definitions in earlier editions of Black’s are similar. See, e.g., Black’s Law Dictionary 796 (5th ed. 1979). Comparable definitions appear in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1279 (1993). We therefore conclude that the term “law” does not have a plain meaning that necessarily includes a “regulation.”