Legal Linguistics

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The Legal Linguistics is a newer part of discipline at the interface of linguistics and jurisprudence . The aim of legal linguistics is the empirical analysis and theoretical description of linguistic, media and communicative practices in law as well as a contribution to legal methodology .

Legal Linguistics as a Discipline

The preoccupation with the language and mediality of law goes back far into the early history of human civilization. Around 2000 years ago, Plato already dealt with the question in his dialogue Phaedrus (274b-278e), in which linguistic-medial form one could discuss social orders (norms of living together). For him, writing was unsuitable as a medium to gain knowledge about the world and to speak about the "good"; Only in verbal dialogue is one able to react directly to attacks with arguments . Since the Middle Ages , and especially in the period of Enlightenment , numerous discussions about the quality of the official languages ( "Business" and "For bureaucratic style ") and the comprehensibility of laws . Jacob Grimm developed one of the first grammars of law, collected legal words, formulas and symbols and published the so-called " Weisthümer " - a collection of historical legal sources - for empirical purposes from 1840 to 1878 . The subsequent legal lexicography finds its modern continuation in the German legal dictionary of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences .

Legal linguistics has only existed as a scientific, academically organized discipline since the 1970s.

“As an established sub-discipline of linguistics and law, modern legal linguistics deals with the linguistic-communicative constitution of the social institution of law. They examined empirically using qualitative and quantitative methods linguistic and multi-media forms and their sign scale use of actors in the context of legislation , judiciary and administrative , jurisprudential research and teaching as commentaries . "

In scientific practice there are only a few chairs for legal linguistics worldwide . The majority of research is therefore carried out in the context of interdisciplinary working groups and professional associations.

A professionalization and immediate application rechtslinguistischer research is found in the legislation , such as in the search for intelligible standard texts in the editorial staff of legal language at the Federal Ministry of Justice .

Delimitation: legal linguistics and forensic linguistics

In German-speaking countries, a distinction is made between “legal linguistics” and “ forensic linguistics ” both conceptually and disciplinary . Legal linguistics as part of specialist language and specialist communication research deals with language and communication as constituents of legal work processes. "Forensic linguistics", on the other hand, summarizes various procedures and issues in applied linguistics that treat language and communication as an object of law , especially in the criminal recognition of text authors or speakers. A forensic examination of language products - in contrast to the functional description of legal terminology - does not require any legal knowledge. Overlaps can be found in reflections on the role of language forensic work processes in legal practice (for example the question of how language forensic experts appear in court or how they are perceived by judges).

This terminological separation is less common in the Anglo-Saxon world. As a rule, both forensic and - albeit far less often - legal linguistic research are grouped under the label “Forensic Linguistics”. The counterpart to German “legal linguistics” in English is the label “Legal Linguistics”, which is now increasing, or simply “Language and Law”.

Topics and questions

Established fields of research in legal linguistics (or “legal linguistics”) have so far been three phenomena: technical language and its relationship to common or lay language, legal semantics and communication in court.

Legal terminology and specialist-lay communication

A large part of legal linguistic research is devoted to the description of the linguistic (and also other symbolic) peculiarities of legal terminology . The focus of the investigations is primarily on the lexicon (word stock) and conversation research. It was recognized early on that legal jargon in German-speaking countries does not only consist of specialist terminology ( special technical terms ), but also that numerous expressions are taken from the common language and used in a special technical meaning that is usually unrecognizable for laypeople (for example "theft" or " Violence"). This is mostly the background for a persistent criticism of the lack of "general comprehensibility" of legal terminology in parts of the population as well as among linguists who are not trained in technical language. For historical reasons as well as for technical communication reasons, a general understanding of legal language is seen today by the majority as an illusion, but a continuous effort to improve legal and administrative language more appropriate to the target audience is considered necessary.

Legal semantics

Legal semantics deals with the question of how normative concepts and meanings arise or are actively constructed when working with legal texts (for example the question of how a legal text is to be understood). Above all, the Heidelberg group of legal linguistics has produced numerous publications that show that the " interpretation " of legal texts is a complex process of text linking, for which special specialist knowledge is required. Language is not just a "tool", not a "conveyor belt that creates the normative substance of meaning contained in language for the user". Rather, it is the lawyer or judge who ascribes the meaning to a legal text according to all the rules of art (that is, the legal methodology) and has to protect it against contradictions (that is, other readings) argumentatively and plausibly.

Communication in court

Communication in court is the subject of numerous conversational studies. The research focuses on processes of understanding and misunderstanding between legal experts (judges, attorneys, etc.) and legal laypeople in the courtroom. These include linguistic-communicative strategies of self-staging of all those involved in the process (judges, lawyers, defendants, witnesses and so on), the influence of different social origins (educational background, age, gender and so on) on communicative behavior, various questioning and interrogation techniques, the interactive construction of "facts" when negotiating a matter ("story construction") as well as communicative routines in arbitration proceedings.

Recent developments and desiderata

In the last few decades legal linguistic research has turned to new questions. These include in particular:

  • the consequences of digitization and mediatization for legal communication and text work;
  • Possibilities and limits of computer-aided text analysis (e.g. through connection to corpus linguistics for use in legal practice);
  • the empirical investigation and theoretical description of text work in legislative procedures as well as the genesis of legal norms across different domains (justice, media, administration and so on);
  • the consequences of transnational and multilingual legal areas for legal communication ( multilingualism in law ).

Research groups and professional associations

Legal linguistic research is mainly organized in the form of interdisciplinary working groups and professional associations. The most important groups include:

  • The Heidelberg group of legal linguistics (often only for short: “Heidelberger group”) is one of the oldest legal linguistic research groups in the world to date. It was founded in 1973 by the linguists and legal scholars Rainer Wimmer (Trier), Friedrich Müller (Heidelberg), Dietrich Busse (Düsseldorf) and Ralph Christensen (Mannheim) and has met four times since then, in different compositions, but without any formal institutionalization in the year. Since it was founded, the Heidelberg Group has significantly shaped legal linguistic research in German-speaking countries and produced important basic works on language and legal research. The group has been coordinated by the legal linguist Friedemann Vogel (Siegen) since 2014.
  • The Austrian Society for Legal Linguistics (often short ÖGRL) was founded in 2017 by Daniel Leisser (Vienna / Edinburgh) and Luke Green (Vienna) at the Institute for English and American Studies at the University of Vienna. Central fields of activity are the examination of the interpretation of the law, the role of linguistic evidence in judicial proceedings, the role of speaker recognition and identification, as well as the writing of comments on contemporary legal dogmatic developments. Another field of the ÖGRL is participation research, which examines how the general understanding of legal texts differs from the interpretations of the courts. In the area of ​​criminal law, the ÖGRL has "advocated fair, transparent and comprehensible criminal proceedings since it was founded, taking into account international legal linguistic knowledge."
  • The Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics (often only GSFL for short) is an association based in Langballig near Flensburg, which supports the use of forensic linguistic research in order to advance the ideals of social justice and equality, as well as professional integrity, charity and responsibility. The GSFL has been organizing the GSFL Roundtable and the Emerging Scholars' Day every year since 2015.
  • The working group "Language and Law" at the University of Regensburg was founded in 2004 by the legal scholar Christian Lohse. The interdisciplinary group regularly holds scientific conferences and has been awarding an annual “Language and Law” award since 2008.
  • The association for the promotion of European legal linguistics at the University of Cologne supports the "work on European legal linguistics and the close interlinking of research, teaching and professional practice in this area".
  • In the research network “Language and Knowledge” at the University of Heidelberg, SUW, and there especially in the section “Language of Law”, studies are being carried out on legal communication.
  • The International Language and Law Association , ILLA, is an international and interdisciplinary research association for the study of the language and mediality of law. It was newly founded in Freiburg in 2017 and brings global legal linguistic research together under one roof.
  • The Legal Linguistics Network ("RELINE") is a Denmark-based legal linguistics research network. It was initiated in 2011 by legal linguist Anne Lise Kjær in Copenhagen.
  • The International Association of Forensic Linguists, IAFL, is an international and interdisciplinary research association for forensic linguistics that also deals marginally with the language of law.

Publication media

The research results in legal linguistics are published in various publications. The most important journals and monograph series include:

  • International Journal of Language and Law (JLL), edited by Friedemann Vogel and Hanjo Hamann
  • Journal of European Legal Linguistics (ZERL), edited by Isolde Burr-Haase and others
  • LeGes - Legislation & Evaluation, newsletter of the Swiss Society for Legislation (SGG) and the Swiss Evaluation Society (SEVAL)
  • Language and Mediality of Law (SMR), series of monographs published by Duncker & Humblot , edited by Ralph Christensen and Friedemann Vogel

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedemann Vogel: Legal linguistics: To determine a subject . In: Ekkehard fields, Friedemann Vogel (ed.): Handbook Language in Law (=  Handbooks Language Knowledge ). Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2017, p. 209-232 .
  2. ^ Jacob Grimm: German legal antiquities . 4th probably edition / provided by Andreas Heusler u. Rudolf Huebner edition. Dieterich, Leipzig 1899.
  3. ^ Friedemann Vogel: Legal linguistics: To determine a subject . In: Ekkehard fields, Friedemann Vogel (ed.): Handbook Language in Law (=  Handbooks Language Knowledge ). Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2017, p. 213 .
  4. ^ Friedemann Vogel: Calculating legal meanings? Drawbacks and opportunities of corpus assisted legal linguistics to make the law (more) explicit . In: Dieter Stein, Janet Giltrow (Eds.): The pragmatic turn in law. Inference and Interpretation in Legal Discourse . tape 18 . Mouton de Gruyter, Boston, p. 287 .
  5. ^ Friedemann Vogel: Legal linguistics: To determine a subject . In: Ekkehard fields, Friedemann Vogel (ed.): Handbook Language in Law (=  Handbooks Language Knowledge ). Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2017, p. 219-221 .
  6. ↑ Overview with Bernd Jeand'Heur: The newer technical language of legal science since the middle of the 19th century with special consideration of constitutional law and legal methodology . In: Lothar Hoffmann et al. (Ed.): Technical languages: an international handbook of technical language research and terminology science: handbooks for linguistics and communication studies . = Handbooks of linguistics and communication science = Manuels de linguistique et des sciences de communication. tape 1 . De Gruyter, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-11-011101-2 , pp. 1286-1295 .
  7. ↑ Ekkehard fields: Legal text work in the mirror of the public . De Gruyter, Berlin [a. a.] 2003, ISBN 3-11-017731-5 (XII, 452).
  8. ↑ Markus Nussbaumer: About enthusiasts and skeptics and an attempt to be realist. Balance sheet and draft of the language game of the incomprehensible law . In: Kent D. Lerch (Ed.): Understanding right: Understandability, misunderstanding and incomprehensibility of law . Gruyter, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-11-018142-5 , pp. 285-295 .
  9. ↑ Ralph Christensen, Hans Kudlich: The interpretation theory as implicit language theory of the jurists . In: Archive for Legal and Social Philosophy (ARSP) . No. 2 , 2002, p. 239 ff .
  10. ^ Ludger Hoffmann: Conversations in the legal system . In: Klaus Brinker et al. (Ed.): Text and conversation linguistics: An international handbook of contemporary research = Linguistics of text and conversation (=  handbooks for language and communication studies ). De Gruyter, Berlin 2001, p. 1540-1555 .
  11. ^ Friedemann Vogel: Legal linguistics: To determine a subject . In: Ekkehard fields, Friedemann Vogel (ed.): Handbook Language in Law (=  Handbooks Language Knowledge ). Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2017, p. 221-225 .
  12. ^ Martin Morlok: Intertextuality and Hypertextuality in Law . In: Friedemann Vogel (Hrsg.): Approaches to legal semantics: Interdisciplinary approaches in the age of mediatization between introspection and automatons (=  linguae & litterae ). Walter De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2015, p. 67 ff .
  13. ↑ Jan C. Schuhr: Databases of judicial decisions as access to legal semantics ?: Comments on the commentary on laws in a divided, democratic state . In: Friedemann Vogel (Hrsg.): Approaches to legal semantics: Interdisciplinary approaches in the age of mediatization between introspection and automatons (=  linguae & litterae ). Walter De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2015, p. 93-123 .
  14. ↑ Friedemann Vogel (Ed.): Approaches to legal semantics: Interdisciplinary approaches in the age of mediatization between introspection and automatons . Walter De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2015.
  15. ^ Friedemann Vogel: Linguistics legal norm genesis: Theory of legal norm discursivity using the example of online searches . De Gruyter, Berlin [a. a.] 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-027830-9 .
  16. ↑ Friedrich Müller, Isolde Burr: Legal Language of Europe: Reflection on the Practice of Language and Multilingualism in Supranational Law . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-428-11580-8 (422 pages).
  17. ^ Heidelberg group of legal linguistics. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  18. ^ Austrian Society for Legal Linguistics. Retrieved on July 30, 2018 (German).
  19. ↑ Do you speak right? - science.ORF.at . In: science.ORF.at . September 29, 2017 ( orf.at [accessed July 30, 2018]).
  20. ↑ Vienna Libraries: Guilty verdict without a main hearing? | Authority and language in criminal mandate proceedings. Retrieved July 30, 2018 .
  21. ^ Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics: Policy and Governance. Retrieved July 30, 2018 .
  22. ^ Research group Language and Law at the University of Regensburg. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  23. ^ Association for the Promotion of European Legal Linguistics. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  24. ^ Homepage of the Association for the Promotion of European Legal Linguistics. Retrieved May 2, 2018 .
  25. ^ Research network Language and Knowledge at the University of Heidelberg. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  26. ^ International Language and Law Association (ILLA). Accessed May 19, 2018 .
  27. ^ Legal Linguistics Network, Denmark. Accessed May 19, 2018 .
  28. ^ International Association of Forensic Linguistics. Accessed May 19, 2018 .
  29. ↑ International Journal of Language and Law (JLL). Friedemann Vogel, Hanjo Hamann, accessed on May 19, 2018 (English).
  30. ^ Journal of European Legal Linguistics. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  31. ↑ LeGes - Legislation and Evaluation. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  32. ^ Language and Mediality of Law (SMR), series of monographs by Duncker & Humblot. Ralph Christensen and Friedemann Vogel, accessed on November 1, 2019 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Legal linguistics  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

literature

  • Dietrich Busse: Law as text. Linguistic research on working with language in a social institution (= German Linguistic Series. Vol. 131). Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1992, ISBN 3-484-31131-2 .
  • Dietrich Busse: Legal semantics: basic questions of legal interpretation theory from a linguistic point of view . Habilitation thesis; Universität Darmstadt, 1993. 2nd edition Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-13427-4 (318 pages).
  • Ekkehard fields, Friedemann Vogel (ed.): Handbook Language in Law . Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, Boston 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-029619-8 .
  • Ekkehard Felder: Legal text work in the mirror of the public (= Studia linguistica Germanica. Vol. 70). de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-11-017731-5 (also: Münster, Universität, habilitation paper, 2002).
  • Mattila, Heikki ES: Comparative legal linguistics: Language of law, Latin and modern lingua francas . 2nd ed. Ashgate, Farnham, Surrey, England, Burlington, VT 2013, ISBN 978-1-4094-3932-5 (English, 485 pages).
  • Friedrich Müller (Ed.): Investigations on legal linguistics. Interdisciplinary studies on practical semantics and structuring legal theory in basic questions of legal methodology (= writings on legal theory. Vol. 133). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-428-06608-1 .
  • Peter Meijes Tiersma, Lawrence Solan (Eds.): The Oxford handbook of language and law . Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-957212-0 .
  • Friedemann Vogel: Linguistics of legal norm generation. Theory of legal norms discursivity using the example of online searches (= language and knowledge. Vol. 9). de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-027830-9 (also: Regensburg, University, dissertation, 2011).
  • Friedemann Vogel (Ed.): Approaches to legal semantics: interdisciplinary approaches in the age of mediatization between introspection and automatons . Walter De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-034745-6 .
  • Friedemann Vogel: Law is not a text: Studies on speechlessness in the constitutional state . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2017, ISBN 3-428-15247-6 (241 pages).