statutessuch

Statutessuch is a neologism used in legal linguistics to describe a syntactic and semantic pattern found in statutory drafting, where a general rule is linked to a defined class of statutes through a compact phrasing. The term serves as a label for analysis and for annotating corpora, rather than a term appearing in enacted texts.

The concept emerged in scholarly discussions in the late 2010s as researchers noted recurring constructions that group related statutes under a broad rule. Statutessuch is not an official legal term and is rarely, if ever, found in actual statutes; it is primarily a tool for linguistic description and methodological tagging in research.

Linguistic characteristics of statutessuch constructions typically involve a general noun phrase referring to statutes, followed by a marker or connective element that signals a class or set. In analyses, the construction is treated as a unit that broadens the scope of a rule to include all statutes within the specified category, while allowing precise enumeration when needed.

Applications and significance include aiding the study of scope and drafting efficiency, supporting computational parsing and information retrieval, and enabling cross-jurisdictional comparisons of how statutes are categorized. The concept can illuminate how legislators and drafters balance general principles with specific exceptions, and how references to groups of statutes influence interpretive outcomes.

Criticism notes that statutessuch is largely theoretical and may not correspond to a distinct, recognizable form in everyday drafting. Some scholars warn that overemphasizing the label can mask the actual textual nuances of the statutes themselves.