156
Opinion of the Court
legal authorities had begun with increasing regularity to use the term "clearly erroneous" to signal court/court review, Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 52(a) (adopted in 1937), and the term "substantial evidence" to signal less strict court/agency review. Stern, Review of Findings of Administrators, Judges and Juries: A Comparative Analysis, 58 Harv. L. Rev. 70, 88 (1944) (describing congressional debates in which members argued for and against applying the "clearly erroneous" standard to agency review "precisely because it would give administrative findings less finality than they enjoyed under the 'substantial evidence' rule").
Yet the presence of these phrases is not conclusive. The relevant linguistic conventions were less firmly established before adoption of the APA than they are today. At that time courts sometimes used words such as "clearly erroneous" to describe less strict court/agency review standards. See, e. g., Polish National Alliance v. NLRB, 136 F. 2d 175, 181 (CA7 1943); New York Trust Co. v. SEC, 131 F. 2d 274, 275 (CA2 1942), cert. denied, 318 U. S. 786 (1943); Hall v. Commissioner, 128 F. 2d 180, 182 (CA7 1942); First National Bank of Memphis v. Commissioner, 125 F. 2d 157 (CA6 1942) (per curiam); NLRB v. Algoma Plywood & Veneer Co., 121 F. 2d 602, 606 (CA7 1941). Other times they used words such as "substantial evidence" to describe stricter court/ court review (including appeals in patent infringement cases challenging district court factfinding). See, e. g., Cornell v. Chase Brass & Copper Co., 142 F. 2d 157, 160 (CA2 1944); Dow Chemical Co. v. Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Co., 139 F. 2d 473, 475 (CA6 1943), aff'd, 324 U. S. 320 (1945); Gordon Form Lathe Co. v. Ford Motor Co., 133 F. 2d 487, 496-497 (CA6), aff'd, 320 U. S. 714 (1943); Electro Mfg. Co. v. Yellin, 132 F. 2d 979, 981 (CA7 1943); Ajax Hand Brake Co. v. Superior Hand Brake Co., 132 F. 2d 606, 609 (CA7 1943); Galion Iron Works & Mfg. Co. v. Beckwith Machinery Co., 105 F. 2d 941, 942 (CA3 1939). Indeed, this Court itself on at least one occasion used the words "substantial evidence"
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