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a , 5/23/79 Meeting ASSISTANT Yes', Mr, Chairman. Whenever there is a question of the meaning of the interpre- CORPORATION COUNSEL: tation of any provision in the Charter for_ instance what does unusual circum- • stances mean or any other phrase you would like us to, what does semiautonomous mean, when our office gets a request for a . legal opinion, the only way we can respond to a request for a legal opinion is what. did the drafters of that document mean when they used the terminology unusual circumstances, a semiautonomous body, cruel and Unusual punishment, what did the drafters of that language mean because our interpretation unless there's a specific case law on a particular .terminology or phrase, we cannot give you a legal opinion; and in that respect, when you read cases and case laws on the interpretation of a certain meaning,you will find that the court almost always interprets that term or string of words as or with respect as to how it applies to the facts and every case, almost every case, the facts .are different. So that the same phrase as applied under facts A would have a different result than when applied to facts B. This involves semantics and interpretation. But when we have to write a legal opinion, the first thing we do when we have to write a legal opinion or something with the Charter's meaning, the first thing we do is go' orer to the legislative auditor's office and we get the minutes for the . Charter Commission of 1965, 1966, and I think it was 1964, at any rate there were three Charter Commissionsthat convened before this, before the final document was completed. And we have to read through all the testimonies and find out what the people who composed this language meant or what they • intended, it to mean so if you don't give a good free-wheeling discussion on the language and what you wanted' it .to mean, we're stuck and there's no way we can interpret' it; we don't know what you intended; say ten years from now that there is a legal opinion sent to somebody upstairs and they want to know what is meant by general supervision by the Mayor for instance; the first thing we're going to do is look at all the minutes and see what you intended it to mean, what you thought it might mean and by you I. mean collectively the members of the Commission. So I would suggest that it's up to you whether you want to expend this amount of time cause it will be a sacrifice for all of You. And And, I would suggest that you make a record, a thorough record, of everybody's -3-