Ejusdem generis

The Latin expression ejusdem generis is a principle of legal statutory interpretation that means "where general words follow specific words in a statutory enumeration, the general words are construed to embrace only objects similar in nature to those objects enumerated by the preceding specific words." 2A N. Singer, Sutherland on Statutes and Statutory Construction § 47.17 (1991) (quoted by Circuit City Stores v. Adams, 532 U.S. 105, 114-15, 121 S. Ct. 1302, 1308-09 (2001)).

Applying this maxim, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in Circuit City Stores that the phrase "engaged in commerce" in "Section 1 exempts from the FAA only contracts of employment of transportation workers." 532 U.S. at 118, 119.