Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/233

 police power and of administrative law has somewhat broadened the power of the legislature in certain directions but on the other hand the very mass of interpretation is itself a restriction.

Every word, almost, has received an interpretation or has had its meaning confused by endless decisions. Judge Hornblower in an address in which he decried the



increase of statute law and defended judge-made law, gives us one of the strongest pictures of the difficulties of law making. He says:—

"Experience shows that when rules of law are reduced to statutory form the work of interpretation and construction commences. Each word in the statute assumes importance and calls for enforcement. A 'but' or an 'and' becomes as important as the subject or the predicate of the sentence, and sometimes even more important… In a statute conciseness, exactness, and pre-