Language, meaning and the law

• Main Author: Hutton, Christopher.
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, ©2009.
• Subjects: Law > Language.; LAW > Legal Writing.; LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES > General. > Linguistics; Rechtstaal.; Taalgebruik.; Interpretatie.; Discourse analysis.; Rechtssprache.; Semantik.; Soziolinguistik.; Electronic books.
• Online Access: View fulltext via EzAccess

Language, Meaning and the Law offers an accessible, critical guide to debates about linguistic meaning and interpretation in relation to legal language. Law is an ideal domain for considering fundamental questions relating to how we assign meanings to words, understand and comment on texts, and deal...

Table of Contents:

• Appendices:
• Conclusion:
• Key issues:
• System theory, normativity and the "realist dilemma"
• Philosophy, law and language
• Issues in legal interpretation
• Literal meaning, the dictionary and the law
• Representation, reproduction and intention
• Idols of the market
• Insider judges and outsider critics.
• Hard cases and ideal interpreters.
• The judge as a tennis umpire.
• Legal theory and language
• The golden mean?
• Reflexivity and Garfinkel's dystopia of reasons.
• The single meaning rule and defamation of law
• The semiotics of law, language and money
• The Hogsville files.
• Rules, norms and the everyday.
• Who owns language?
• Popular meaning and statutory interpretation.
• Literal meaning and national security.
• "No vehicles across state lines" : a famous vehicle case.
• Grice and perjury.