Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1901 — "May" Does Mean "Must" [ARTICLE]

"May" Does Mean "Must"

The ambiguous wording of statutes is the delight and profit of lawyers. If every legislative act meant just what it appeared to say and said Just what it obviously meant the lawyers would have very little, to fight over and big fees would be as scarce as white blackbirds. Somebody did the lawyers of Ohio a friendly turn in framing a law which declared that auditors “may ” examine the officials of corporations if not satisfied with the returns of their property for purposes cf taxation. Mayor Tom L. Johnson of Cleveland set up the contention that certain railroads were valued for taxation purposes at but 10 to 15 per cent of their value in money. He had the city law officials secure a mandamus ordering the auditors to stop proceedings until they had called railroad officials as witnesses. This was "nuts’’ for the lawyers, and they proceeded to crack them in the usual spectacular way with much display of legal learning and philological

profundity. It all turned on the question of whether the word “may" In a statute is mandatory or discretionary. To the man who has no legal mind it seems perfectly clear that there ft nothing mandatory or compulsory about the word “may.” But the lawyers for Mayor Johnson and the city quoted all the authorities from Blackstone down to Justice Dooley to prove that the word “may” means “must" The court, however, was unmoved by the eloquence of the attorneys and decided that the word merely implies power or permission rather than obligation. The first woman to hold office of regent of the Wisconsin State University has just been appointed by Gov. La Follette. She is Dr. Alma J. Frls-i ble a? Milwaukee and a graduate of the university in the class of ’7B. It is expected that eight million boxes of citrus fruit will be shipped from California this season.