Camplin v. Town of York

In Camplin v. Town of York, 471 A.2d 1035, 1037 (Me. 1984), the term "lots of record" was not defined in the zoning ordinance. The Plaintiff urged the Court to adopt the definition contained in the town's building code. The Law Court stated that: Under Maine law, instead of looking outside the ordinance for assistance in ascertaining the meaning of an undefined term, we are required to look to the ordinance itself for guidance. Undefined terms should be given their common and generally accepted meanings unless the context requires otherwise. . . . Absent a showing, therefore, that York's building code is in some way incorporated into its zoning ordinance, it is improper in the present case to look to the building code to provide a definition missing from the zoning ordinance. Id. at 1038.