7.2 Absolute and Qualified Duties

The distinction: the statutory duty's character — the absolute duty (the unconditional command: the compliance regardless of circumstances — the breach's liability strict) vs the qualified duty (the conditional command: the compliance "so far as practicable," "if practicable," "within a reasonable time" — the impossibility's excuse); the interpretive question: the duty's qualification by the words-or-context (the unqualified words presumed absolute? the context's implied-qualification debates); the consequences: the qualified duty's breach = the excusable non- performance (the impossibility's 7.3's companion); the absolute duty's breach = the strict liability's face (the environmental-and-safety statutes' debates: the strict-regulatory-liability questions). The examples' craft: the taxation-and-filing duties (the deadlines' absolute-or-qualified reading); the safety-and-reporting duties (the "forthwith" qualifications); the public-works-and-emergency duties (the practicability's qualifiers).