Jarecki v. G.D. Searle & Co.

Case Date: 07/22/1961

Jarecki v. G.D. Searle & Co., 367 U.S. 303 (1961)[1], was a U.S. Supreme Court case. Jarecki is an example of the maxim noscitur a sociis—a word is known by the company it keeps. The Court noted that noscitur a sociis is not an inescapable rule. It further noted that the maxim is often wisely applied where a word is capable of many meanings. The reason that it is applied in the case of many meanings is that it avoids giving unintended breadth to Acts of Congress.