The article focuses on the role played by definitions in a reader’s understanding and application of a statute. Despite the frequency with which terms are defined in the United States Code (the Code includes more than 25,000 defined terms), statutory definitions remain relatively unexamined. Professor Price frames her analysis by distinguishing two functions served by legislation – statutes are both communication vehicles and instruments of governance. She suggests that a better understanding of the effect of definition on a reader’s interaction with a text, coupled with an appreciation of the different roles served by definition, will enable legislators to draft more useful definitions and enable interpreters to better apply those definitions
Professor Price, who also serves as Director of the Wiener-Rogers Law Library, joined the faculty in 2008. She teaches Research Methods and enjoys focusing on information sources and strategies in business and commercial contexts. As illustrated by her new law review article, Professor Price's research interests focus on law and language, law-related taxonomies, and cross-language information retrieval.
Before coming to UNLV, Professor Price served as Associate Director of the Tarlton Law Library and Lecturer at The University of Texas School of Law as well as Adjunct Professor at The University of Texas School of Information. A member of the Texas Bar, Professor Price practiced corporate and securities law in Houston and overseas for nearly ten years. Professor Price is a graduate of Yale University (B.A.), The University of Texas (J.D.), and the University of Maryland (M.L.S.).
