Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T04:04:18.188Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Language, writing and the law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Bernhard Grossfeld
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Language is not only the servant of the law but also its master. Language constitutes a pattern of recognition that sets the frame for legal discussions. It is normally not as precise as we are made to believe. From language to writing again changes the pattern of recognition. Writing is a time machine, it is characterized by inertia, and rigidity. It pretends to offer a context free language, and thus tends to give abstract rules a superior meaning. We have to be aware of this when interpreting written texts which should not be taken more seriously than oral words. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , October 1997 , pp. 383 - 399
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Bell, (1995) Lingua Populi, Lingua Dei: language, religion and the origins of French revolutionary nationalism. American Historical Rev. 100, 1403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Bloomaert, (1996) Language and nationalism: comparing Flanders and Tanzania. Nations and Nationalism 2, 235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Bateson, (1972) A theory of play and fantasy. In Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York, 180.Google Scholar
4.Sherwin, (1988) A mother of voice and plot; belief and suspicion in legal storytelling. Michigan Law Rev. 27, 543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Schabert, T. and Brague, R. (Eds) (1996) Die Macht des Wortes, München.Google Scholar
6.von Soden, W. (1974) Sprache, Denken und Begriffsbildung im Alten Orient, Wiesbaden, 1974, 31.Google Scholar
7.Nida, (1996) Translation: possible and impossible. Translation Perspectives 9, 7–15.Google Scholar
8.Chung, J. (1995) Law as a species of language acquisition. Washington University Law Quarterly 73, 1263, 1287.Google Scholar
9.Berman, (1994) Law and logos. De Paul Law Rev. 44, 143–145.Google Scholar
10.Dhavan, (1992) Dharmasastra and modern Indian Society: a preliminary exploration. Journal of the Indian Law Institute 34, 575.Google Scholar
11.Dumm, (1990) Fear of law, studies in law. Politics and Society 10, 29–30.Google Scholar
12.Newman, (1870) An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, London, 738 ss.Google Scholar
13.Baerends, (1990/1991) Woman is king, man is a mere child. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 30/31, 33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Stith, (1993/1994) Images, spirituality and law. Journal of Law and Religion 10, 33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Forber, and Sherry, (1993) Telling stories out of school. An essay on legal narratives. Standford Law Rev. 45, 807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Gilligan, C. (1982) In a Different Voice, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
17.Delgardo, (1989) Storytelling for oppositionists and other: a plea for narrative. Michigan Law Rev. 87, 2411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Walchon, (1996) Kant's legal positivism. Harvard Law Rev. 109, 1535.Google Scholar
19.Friedrich, (1986) The Language Parallax: Linguistic Relations and Practice Indeterminancy, Austin.Google Scholar
20.Newman, (1872) Fifteen Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford, London, 177.Google Scholar
21.Moran, (1996) Cardinal Newman and jury verdicts: reason, belief and certitude. Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities 8, 63.Google Scholar
22.Appelbaum, (1996) Profession and detachment: The executioner of Paris. Harvard Law Rev. 109, 458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23. European Court of Justice, Reports 1985, 1169 Case 100/84, Commission v. United Kingdom.Google Scholar
24.Ainsworth, (1996) Categories and culture: on the ‘rectification of names’ in comparative law. Cornell Law Rev.Google Scholar
25.Pinker, (1994) The Language Instinct, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26.Lyons, J. (1991) Chomsky, Glasgow.Google Scholar
27.Joripovici, G. (1996) Touch, London.Google Scholar
28.Chang, (1994) Toward an Asian American legal scholarship. Asian Law Journal 1, 1.Google Scholar
29.Ongg, (1982) Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, London, 78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Havelock, (1963) Preface to Plato, Cambridge, Mass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31.Havelock, (1982) The Literate Revolution in Greece and 1st Cultural Consequences, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
32.Havelock, (1986) The Muse Learns to Write, New Haven/London.Google Scholar
33.Watson, (1996) Folklore and Basque nationalism: language, myth, reality. Nations and Nationalism 2, 17–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
34.Rothstein, (1986) When fiction is fact: perception in sixteenth century France. Studies in Philosophy 83, 359.Google Scholar
35.Zuleika, (1988) Basque Violence: Methaphor and Sacrament, Reno.Google Scholar
36.White, H. (1984) The question of narrative in contemporary historical theory. History and Theory 23, 1–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37.Gilkerson, (1992) Poverty law narratives. Hastings Law Rev. 43, 861.Google Scholar
37a.Stith, (1993) Images, spirituality and law. Journal of Law and Religion 10, 32–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
38.Druey, (1996) Über die Lebensbedingungen des Rechts. St Gallen, 18.Google Scholar
39.Grossfeld, (1994) Schriftart und Ordnungsdenken (Austrian). Zeitschrift für vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft, 1.Google Scholar
40.Lessig, (1993) Fidelity in Translation. Texas Law Rev. 71, 1165.Google Scholar
41.Asad, (1986) The Concept of Cultural Translation in British Social Anthropology. In Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Clifford, James & Maraus, George E. (Eds). 14.Google Scholar
42.McGuire, S. Basnet (1991) rev. Ed., London a.o. Bell, Roger G. (1991) Translation and Translation Theory and Practice, London/New York.Google Scholar
43.Weyrauch, (1997) Oral legal traditions of gypsies and some American equivalents. American Journal of Comparative Law.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
44.Banner, (1996) Written law and unwritten norms in colonial St. Louis. Law and History Review 14, 33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
45.Afford, (1986) On the limits of ‘Grand Theory’ in comparative law. Washington Law Rev. 61, 942.Google Scholar
46.Fellmann, (Summer 1995) A tale of two brains. Yale Alumni Magazine, 42–45.Google Scholar
47.Stepanow, and Proskurin, (1993) Konstanti Mirow Kulute—Alfawti i alfawitnie teksti w periodi dwoeweria, Moscow. English summary on p. 158.Google Scholar
48.Dressier, (1995) Interactions between iconicity and other semiotic parameters in language. In Iconicity in Language. Simone, R. (Ed.). Amsterdam, 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
49.Haspelmath, (Oct. 16, 1996) Franzi Bambino Chiquita. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 241, N6.Google Scholar
50.Foley, (1992) Word-power, performance and tradition. Journal of American Folklore 105, 275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
51.Grosby, (1995) Territoriality: the transcendental primeordial feature of modern societies. Nations and Nationalism 1, 143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
52.Mowatt, (1994) Chaos theory and the law (South African). De Jure 27, 154.Google Scholar
53.Plato, , Phaedrus 274–277.Google Scholar
54.Santos, (1987) A map of misreading. Journal of Law and Society 14, 279.Google Scholar
55.Gullace, (1985/1986) Translating philosophy of law. Translation Perspectives 3, 52–53.Google Scholar
56.Mahn, , Dialogue and Understanding: A Hermeneutical Approach to Translation, 3, 18.Google Scholar
57.Schmidt, D. J. (1986/87) The hermeneutic dimension of translation. Translation Perspectives 4, 5.Google Scholar
58.Ainsworth, (1992) Interpreting sacred texts. Hastings Law Rev. 43, 273.Google Scholar
59.Clancy, M. T. (1979) From Memory to Written Record. London, 231.Google Scholar
60.Hastings, L. J. (1982) 273–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
61.LaRue, L. H. (1995) Constitutional Law as Fiction: Narrative in the Rhetoric of Authority. University Park, 72s.Google Scholar
62.Melloan, (1996) A world seeking justice is running low on examples. Wall Street Journal Europe, 10 29, 11.Google Scholar
63.Lessig, (1993) Fidelity in translation. Texas Law Rev. 71, 1165, 1190.Google Scholar
64.Lessig, (1995) Understanding changed readings: fidelity and theory. Stanford Law Rev. 47, 395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
65.Cunningham, (1992) The lawyer as translator, representation as text: towards on ethnography of legal discourse. Cornell Law Rev. 77, 1298.Google Scholar
66.Alfieri, (1992) Stances. Cornell Law Rev. 77, 1233.Google Scholar
67.White, J. Boyd (1992) Translation as a mode of thought. Cornell Law Rev. 77, 1388.Google Scholar
68.Genzt, H. (1996) Wie die Zeit in die Welt kam, Munich.Google Scholar
69.Petrey, (1982/1983) Must history be lost in translation? Translation Perspectives 1, 86.Google Scholar
70.Ferguson, (1990) The judicial opinion as a literary genre. Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities 2, 201–205, 213.Google Scholar
71.Resnik, F., Constructing the Canon, Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities 2, 221.Google Scholar
72.Sherwin, (1988) A matter of voice and plot: belief and suspicion in legal storytelling. Michigan Law Rev. 87, 543–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
73.Bloom, (1975) A Map of Misreadings, New York.Google Scholar
74.Yoshino, (1994) What's past is prologue: precedent in literature and law. Yale Law Journal 104, 471–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
75., Argon and Agora, (1986) Creative misreadings in the first amendment tradition. Yale Law Journal 95, 857–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
76.Cole, , (1986) Creative misreadings in the first amendment tradition. Yale Law Journal 95, 857–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar