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Speaking Language to Law: The Case of Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Simone Glanert
Simone Glanert*
Affiliation:
University of Kent
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Abstract

No legal integration project can circumvent the matter of language. Yet, lawyers advocating one form or other of Europeanisation of law, apparently basing themselves on the unexamined view that everything is adequately translatable, do not seem prepared to address linguistic issues. But a move beyond law's disciplinary barriers – in particular, a foray into translation studies (or ‘translatology’) – compels one to challenge the effectivity of the uniformisation agenda. First, it shows that the inherently local character of language resists the establishment of uniform law. Second, it demonstrates that no uniform law, irrespective of the language in which it is written, can account for local legal experience. Both claims suggest that language simply cannot be made subservient to the lawyer's agenda and that the assumption that it can be ignored is mistaken.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 161 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 2008

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