What is the test for interpreting "ordinary meaning" in a statute?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Cortez, B291280 (Cal. App. 2019):

Principles that govern statutory construction require interpreting the language in a statute with its " 'ordinary meaning,' " and construing it "in the context of the statute as a whole and the overall statutory scheme." (People v. Rizo (2000) 22 Cal.4th 681, 685.) Under the so-called absurd consequences doctrine, "[the] language of a statute should not be given a literal meaning if doing so would result in absurd consequences" which

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