I. Introduction

Canons are odd legal ducks. Most of the time, they’re not adopted by a legislature or deliberative body, so they’re not statutes, constitutions, or promulgated rules. They’re not substantive or binding legal principles adopted by courts, so they don’t neatly qualify as common-law doctrines. Black’s Law Dictionary defines a canon as a rule or principle accepted as fundamental. Canons of construction are often considered customs that don’t actually have the force of law. Yet many...