Before turning to the leading candidates for what legal interpretation seeks, it is worth considering the recurrent suggestion that interpretation takes place only when the answer to a legal question is not obvious.[1] We can quickly dispense with this suggestion. It does not capture what paradigmatic theories of legal interpretation are engaged in, for the prescriptions offered by such theories apply to easy problems as well as difficult ones. Moreover, the suggestion would have the unfortunate consequence that legal interpretation would not be a unified subject matter. (Compare excluding from the subject of chemistry those chemical reactions that are already well understood.) Whether one is seeking linguistic meaning, the content of the law, or the best resolution of a dispute, one is engaged in the same enterprise when the issues are easy as when they are difficult. A closely related point is that whether a particular legal issue is easy or difficult is relative to the interpreter. For an experienced tax lawyer, the answer to an arcane tax question may be obvious. The suggestion would therefore have the consequence that what counts as legal interpretation depends on who is doing the interpretation (and when).