Enlargement at the European Court of Justice: Law,Language and Translation

The enlargement of the EU to 25 Member States in May 2005, followed by the accession of two more states in January 2007, raised a number of questions concerning the organisational structure of that Union—the sheer scale of the largest EU expansion to date highlighted the need to restructure EU institutions. For the European Court of Justice (ECJ), enlargement meant a huge influx of people to staff new divisions in the administrative hierarchy of the Court. This article describes the process and effects of enlargement at the ECJ, particularly in relation to translation and the language regime of that Court. Prior to the May 2004 and January 2007 enlargements there was a general perception among those working at the Court that enlargement would result in significant dislocation of life at that institution. In particular, it was felt that the translation directorate would not be able to cope with the addition of 11 ‘new’ languages to the list of official EU languages. The reality, however, was far from the disaster that many had predicted. That said, even a mere year following the May 2004 enlargement, a number of changes in the functioning and dynamics of that Court were already noticeable.     

Indigenous Peoples and Family Law: Issues in Aotearoa/New Zealand

This article provides a glimpse into how historical and currentlegislation has attempted to grapple with the practice of customaryfamily law by the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand.It focuses on examining family law in two contexts: marriageand property ownership; and children and legal parenthood. Theanalysis provides an interesting insight into the interplaybetween customary law and statute law. The impact of colonizationupon indigenous peoples and the practice of their law, and howgovernments today choose to recognize and provide for indigenouspeoples is a policy issue prevalent in many of the British colonizedlands. This article concludes that a comprehensive review ofthe nature and extent to which legislation should provide forMaori customary law is required in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Thehaphazard approach of current years is insufficient.     

'Immunity', 'Privilege', and 'Right': British Trade Unions and the Language of Labour Law Reform

A continuing debate exists among labour lawyers in the United Kingdom as to the most appropriate legal framework for the regulation of collective industrial action. Many have argued that a change in legal form will not in itself afford greater protection to union activity. Through an analysis of the changing approach of the trade union movement to the issue of 'immunities' and 'rights' during the Thatcher period, this article seeks to demonstrate that adoption of the 'rights' discourse in fact offered considerable strategic advantages. In consequence, any analysis of this question should not overlook the significant political role played by language.     

村规民约的实施与固有习惯法——以广西壮族自治区金秀县六巷乡为考察对象

广西壮族自治区金秀瑶族自治县六巷乡瑶族的村规民约受到瑶族固有习惯法的深刻影响,在保障实施、处罚方式等方面明显体现瑶族固有习惯法的痕迹,瑶族村规民约实施的观念、机制与固有习惯法一脉相承,瑶族固有习惯法通过村规民约形式在当代瑶族地区发挥作用。     

Against Myths and Traditions that Emasculate Women: Language,Literature, Law and Female Empowerment

Western literature has traditionally presented women as either passive or ultimately unhappy heroines, for example Anna Karenina, Hedda Gabler and Emma Bovary (Tolstoy in Anna Karenina, Penguin Classics, UK, 2003; Ibsen in Hedda Gabler, Nick Hern Books, UK, 1995; Flaubert in Madame Bovary, Penguin Classics, UK, 2003). Their relationships with men tend to range from deficient to hopeless, as interaction with the other often produces endless struggle and sacrifice, against the possibility of self-determination and personal fulfilment. Religious doctrine is also replete with images of heroic women dogged by an unhappy fate or the passive obedient woman condemned to a life of servitude. These tales of female subservience logically lead to the idea that for a woman, individual freedom depends on the avoidance of commitment and intimacy; as attachment becomes synonymous with enslavement and so freedom is only possible in isolation. This presumption does not hold true for same-sex lesbian relationships, only those entanglements involving males where the union serves to project largely male interests. Even though the evolution of modern law is mostly subject to social forces rather than religious considerations and the last century evidenced the emergence of many new hard won women’s rights, the male perspective still constitutes the benchmark against which others are measured. It is suggested that society, whilst cleverly concealing any bias beneath empowerment speech, continually seeks legitimacy for new forms of control over the bodies and behaviour of women. This paper examines the current axiomatically given gendered representations of women and demands transparency in the processes which too often fail to accord women the right to equal standing and equitable treatment.     

Detachment and Deontic Language in Law

Some legal philosophers regard the use of deontic language to describe the law as philosophically significant. Joseph Raz argues that it gives rise to ‘the problem of normativity of law’. He develops an account of what he calls ‘detached’ legal statements to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, Raz’s account is difficult to reconcile with the orthodox semantics of deontic language. The article offers a revised account of the distinction between committed and detached legal statements. It argues that deontic statements carry a Gricean generalized conversational implicature to the effect that the rules in question reflect the speaker’s own commitments. Detached legal statements are made when this implicature is either explicitly cancelled or when the conversational context is sufficient to defeat the implicature. I conclude by offering some tentative reflections on the theoretical significance of deontic language in the law.     

The Politics of Caesura: Giorgio Agamben on Language and the Law

The concept of division or caesura is central to the political and legal philosophy of Giorgio Agamben. This paper examines the different ways in which Agamben characterises the law in terms of caesura, and the manner in which this analysis of law is grounded in his analyses of language. I argue that there are two forms of legal division to be found in Agamben’s political analyses. The first is the division that occurs when the legal system produces determinate identities, such as those of nation, and socio-economic status. However, this form of division is itself predicated upon the division that delimits the law as such, the caesura between political and bare life. The way that Agamben sets up both of these political problems is deeply indebted to his analyses of the ‘presuppositional structure’ of metaphysical language—the fracture between signification and its excess.

John M. Conley and William M. O'Barr,Just Words: Law,Language, and Power

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Language and Law in Multiethnic Societies: The Case of Transylvania

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - Transylvania is a multiethnic society that was part of the Hungarian legal space for centuries....