Opinion ID: 839711
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: two key considerations

Text: As always, when interpreting the Michigan Constitution, this Court's duty is to enforce the law which the people have made, and not some other law which the words of the constitution may possibly be made to express. [11] The initial step in determining what law the people have made is to examine the specific language used. In so doing, it is not to be supposed that [the people] have looked for any dark or abstruse meaning in the words employed, but rather that they have accepted them in the sense most obvious to the common understanding, and ratified the instrument in the belief that that was the sense designed to be conveyed. [12] And, since our task is a search for intent, it is often necessary to consider the circumstances surrounding the adoption of the provision and the purpose it is designed to accomplish. [13]