social purpose

{{Short description|Rule of statutory construction}}

Within the context of law, "social purpose" is a scheme of statutory construction declaring that a statute should not be construed in a way that would violate normal societal values or good.{{Cite book|last=Lundmark|first=Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVQGAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA338|title=Charting the Divide Between Common and Civil Law|date=2012-09-27|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0-19-973882-3|pages=338|language=en}} Example of cases in which this rule of construction was used include Riggs v. Palmer (1889) and Holy Trinity Church v. United States (1892).