Law,Fact and Narratives in Ancient Rhetoric: The Case of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">causa Curiana</Emphasis>

The present article examines the role of narratives in rhetoric and jurisprudence, trying to understand the ancient system of ‘issues’ (staseis), an essential part of the rhetorical curriculum in antiquity, with the help of some basic notions of legal semiotics. After a brief reconstruction of the doctrine, I argue that narratives are essential to classical rhetoric, that the basic types of issues correspond to particular stories in and of the trial, and finally that the system of ancient rhetorical theory is capable of giving an account of the narrativisation of the pragmatics of the trial. Then I turn to a cause célèbre of Roman law, the causa Curiana, trying to show that not only the trial itself but also subsequent (ancient and modern) debates concerning the case were shaped by some grand narratives, and that stories about the trial are likely to return to the court, where they may become part of the story of the trial.     

Revelation and Rhetoric: A Critical Model of Forensic Discourse

Over the past thirty years or so, theoretical work in such fields as legal semiotics and law and literature has argued that the legal process is profoundly rhetorical. At the same time, a number of communication-based disciplines such as semiotics, sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology have provided, particularly in interdisciplinary combination with law, a wealth of empirical evidence on, and insight into, the micro-contexts of language and communication in the legal process. However, while these invaluable nitty-gritty analyses provide empirical support for a rhetorical thesis, work in these areas has tended to ignore rhetoric as an explanatory principle. This article introduces an overarching rhetorical framework for the discursive construction and management of cases in contemporary Anglo-American legal processes. Taking ‘forensic’ as relating to the conduct of cases and ‘discourse’ as semiosis-in-practice, I argue that the practices within which forensic discourse is embedded are not, as the received legal view would have it, aimed at revealing an impartial truth but are deeply rhetorical practices aimed at persuading decision-makers to provide a remedy for a claimed wrong. By looking across forensic texts and contexts, I identify common elements of forensic discourse that can be found both in classical forensic orations and throughout the modern legal process and consider how these intersect with critical forces of agency and structure and the particularities of semiosis in situated context. An awareness of commonalities across forensic discourse can help sharpen our focus on the critical causes and consequences of individual and structural difference and point to consequential suggestions for reform.     

中——中国古代法文化之价值目标

中国古代文化源远流长,自成传统。与此相适应,中国古代法文化从内涵至源流都打了中国古代文化传统的烙印,从而形成了中国古代所特有的法文化传统。作为这种法文化传统之内在精神,亦即其灵魂,是儒家思想之精髓的"中道"理念。本文拟从"中"的文化与法文化内涵入手,考察作为价值目标与指导思想的"中"在中国古代法中的地位,从而对作为中国古代法文化之价值目标的"中"作一大致的展示。     

案件事实，还是叙事修辞?——崔英杰案的再认识

作为审判依据的案件事实并非纯然得自证据,而是一种在修辞中完成的故事。证据所能得出是零散的、片段化的事件,事实则是情节化、戏剧化的全景叙事,根据相同的证据和已经获得确认的事件,可以形成不同的事实文本和判决结果。崔英杰案提供了一个细致的实例,展示出解释、挑选等修辞手段在案件审理中形态和作用,以及最终的情节化、戏剧化的案件事实如何得来。更进一步,修辞并非仅仅是语言的装饰或者说服的手段,实际上修辞本身就是事实的建构,而不同的叙事文本背后又隐含着修辞者的立场抗衡。     

分析学还是解释学——法律论证之知识属性辨析

论证理论主要源于分析学,这一点一般为大多数学者所接受。鉴于解释学与分析哲学在哲学上大体分属两种不同的思维传统,因此,解释学与论证理论之关系便值得探讨。法律论证理论固然来源于分析学的传统,但如果没有解释学知识的支持,它也是不可能的。可以说,没有解释的论证是空洞的,没有论证的解释是盲目的。二者均致力于型构具有实践理性品格的法学知识。     

Legal system: can one speak about secondary modeling system in law?

The essay examines possible affinities betweenTartu-Moscow school of cultural semiotics andlegal semiotics. The introduction briefly setsout a historical dimension of the ideologicalintegration of Tartu-Moscow semiotics (inbroader context Tartu semiotics) into thegeneral framework of legal semiotics. It arguesthat there was a `real' historical mediationbetween the members of Tartu-Moscow schoolsemiotic circle and legal scholars from Tartu.The acceptance of such a bridging link betweenlegal academic community and semioticians couldgive further impetus to construction of aspecial model of `Tartu legal semiotics'.The development of Tartu-Moscow `legalsemiotics' could be illustrated by theimplementation of a special explanatoryframework, which provide insights into the wayTartu semiotics wedded to a legal positivistphilosophy. Particular importance of such aframework (model of legal semiotics) rest onfact that the academic ideology of Tartu-Moscowschool reflects and conforms to all thehistorical peculiarities of the Soviet epoch(these peculiarities should be always kept inmind). In order to adopt Tartu-Moscow semioticsto legal semiotics, semiotic theory ofTartu-Moscow school must be recast in terms oflegal semiotics The dissemination of semioticstudies in late Soviet epoch enabled them to belinked to various theoretical enquiries intothe domain of legal methodology, ontology andepistemology. This essay puts a specialemphasis on the notion of `secondary modelingsystem' as a natural pattern for `systemacity'within the universe of law. However, in orderto understand the semiotic value of `legalsystem' it is necessary to have recourse toother systems. Therefore, this paper examinesdifferent system dimensions of law: fromgeneral notion of system and theory ofautopoetic system to sign systems.The possible synthesis of logical, sociologicaland semiotic approaches to the system of lawopens a wider multidisciplinary perspective;moreover the need for multidisciplinarysynthesis is pertinent to contemporaryphilosophical concerns. The main analyticaltask of essay is to provide an answer to aquestion of whether core semiotic concept of a`secondary modeling system' (amongst otherconcepts like `boundary', `semiosphere',`culture' and `text') is capable of enrichingand clarifying legal philosophy in a widerperspective and the semiotic account of law inparticular. A positive answer to the questionwill favor the further tight integration ofTartu-Moscow semiotic concepts into the domainof legal semiotics.     

法教义学中法律解释性命题的可接受性证立

法教义学研究是对实在法尤其是实在法规则进行解释和体系化的研究,法律解释性是法教义学考察的核心命题,是对规范陈述在具体案件事实当中意义的研究。法律解释性命题的有效性证立除了需要满足自我证立的融贯性要求之外,也要符合相关理性论辩规则的规制,尤其需要满足可接受性法律证立的修辞论证需要。解释性法律命题的有效性是以法律解释结果的可接受性为基础的,阿尔尼奥的法律解释证立理论正是在此探讨理路上展开的。     

A Legal Semiotics Framework for Exploring the Origins of Hermagorean Stasis

Stasis is a process of classical rhetoric that identifies the core issue in a trial or a similar debate. Hermagoras of Temnos included the first comprehensive analysis of stasis in his second-century BCE treatise on rhetoric, now lost. Modern scholars tend to echo George Kennedy, who maintains that Hermagoras’ inspiration for the hierarchical structure of stasis is indeterminate. This article, however, employs scholarship in legal semiotics, including the work of Miklós K?ncz?l and Bernard S. Jackson, to argue that Hermagoras based stasiastic structure on Aristotle’s first-figure syllogism. Ideally, knowledge of that structure can enhance modern applications of stasis.     

THE REALITIES OF LAW ARE THE WINNING NARRATIVES — BASIC THESES FOR A REALISTIC AND RHETORICAL PHILOSOPHY OF LAW

This article begins explaining the Aristotelian reduction of rhetoric to persuasion, which came to determine Western tradition until modern times. To understand Aristotle’s methodology the author then wants to discuss the concept of enthymeme, the “rhetorical syllogism,” in Aristotle’s own words. In order to try a realistic critique on the Aristotelian rhetoric, more adequate to a rhetoric of modern law, the author will suggest three epistemological points of departure, three theses, and the three levels of rhetoric that support them.     

The Semiotics of Civil Rights in Consumer Society: Race,Law, and Food

Cooking and constitutionalism. Food and racial equity. I intend the juxtaposition to be jarring, even humorous. I would like to view it as a subtle indication of a historical trend in which central aspects of legal memory have been repressed from contemporary civic practice and important intellectual questions, concerning semiotics in consumer society, have been neglected in mainstream legal scholarship. As I will explain, the story of Ollie's barbecue suggests not only that cooking and constitutionalism are intricately linked, but also that the expansion of postwar economic life formed a material basis for this hidden bond. Considering the history of Ollie's thus can both illuminate the deep historical meaning of the Civil Rights Act, and also point the way toward a more general field of research, the development of what might be called a legal semiotics of consumption.     

法律解释学的新向度:走向主体间性

主体间性是指主体间的相关性和统一性。它是西方现代以来对传统主体性哲学进行反思和超越而构筑的哲学研究新范式。传统法律解释理论是以主体性为分析进路、以正确理解法律文本为核心、以研究具体解释方法为内容的法律理论。然而,随着法律实践的发展,以主体性为分析进路的传统法律解释理论存在着无法克服的理论困境。因而,引入以主体间性为分析进路的现代法律诠释学理论就十分必要。它进一步发展了法律解释学,对于人们更全面、更深入地认识和理解法律解释活动具有十分重要的意义。     

试论中国传统司法裁判中的修辞意蕴及其演进

源于司法实践需要的中国古代司法裁判文书,在不同的历史时期展现出了不同的修辞意蕴,自唐代之后,体现在司法裁判文书中的修辞技巧并不仅仅是制判者体现自己文章水平的文体性修辞手法,而且也存在着以强化判词受众接受和自觉服从为目的的说理性修辞。而且自南宋以来,这种说理性的修辞手法更趋丰富,既有论证判决结论合法、合理的修辞技巧,又存在着实现教化与整合伦理规范为目标的修辞手法。     

法律修辞的价值及其限度

古典的修辞学研究重心主要在于一种实践的说服行动以及与之相并行的说服方式,区别于当前的以修饰文辞为重心的修辞学研究,故而古典的修辞学与法律具有密切的关联。也正是在这个意义上,我们需要认真对待法律修辞,重新激活并发展法律修辞的当代价值。具体而言,法律修辞的价值主要体现在作为本体论的法律修辞和作为方法论的法律修辞这两个具有关联的方面。作为本体论的法律修辞主要是指法律本身也可看作一种修辞并可以从修辞学的视角对法律予以观照,作为方法论的法律修辞主要是指其于法律运行过程中的体现的诸多作用。当然,法律修辞的价值本身也存在限度,但这并不构成对法律修辞的否弃理由。     

Law-making functions of the Chinese courts: Judicial activism in a country of rapid social changes

The judicial production of law and the legislative production of law make a striking distinction between the two legal traditions. Despite of these differences, judges in both legal traditions in adjudicating cases have a common task, which is the application of legal rules to the facts of cases pending for judgments. The tension between the certainty and the “discretion” is universal for any legal system and, to a certain extent, it poses a hard dilemma for the rhetoric of rule of law. In the transitional countries such as China where rapid social changes and transformations take place, the judiciary and judges can not escape from taking more active roles in interpreting or even law making process. It arouses much controversy, particularly in continental legal traditions, for the judiciary is deemed to perform a mechanical role in adjudicating cases. This article intends to analyze the needs for judicial law-making function in China and its reasons. It reveals that judicial interpretation constitutes an important source of law despite its ambiguous legislative position. The article argues that judicial activism is inevitable against the transitional nature of current Chinese society.     

Autonomous Constitutional Interpretation

Certain works in the most recent Polish constitutional law literature suggest that there is acceptance of the principle or the concept of autonomous interpretation of a constitution (autonomy of interpretation of constitutional terms). The Constitutional Tribunal also makes reference to this in numerous rulings. Paradoxically, however, that concept is not very popular in legal theory. It might seem that Polish legal theoreticians and philosophers do not appreciate the concept of interpretation of a constitution devised through practice with the support of constitutional law doctrine. It might, however, mean that opinions on autonomous interpretation of Polish Constitution are nothing more than rhetorical arguments formulated ad hoc not a coherent concept or a theory. This text is an attempt to analyse this concept and its potential in discussions surrounding application of the Polish Constitution.     

修辞论证的方法——以两份判决书为例

修辞在法官论证中的作用十分重要。在具体论证中,法官往往充分利用唤起情感的修辞技巧,并且在判决书中修辞对论证具有构成性意义。此外,无论是修辞论证所重视的共识还是论证本身所反映的实践合理性,其合理性基础均是语用学规则。     

推理与解释：寓于其中的法律思维

法律解释与法律推理是两种相对独立的法律方法,它们对法治建设有着不同的意义。法律解释的功能是要充分展示法律文本的各种可能意义,而法律推理则强调结论的必然得出。由于二者都强调根据法律进行解释或推理,因而拥有大体相似的思维走向,但作为不同的方法却有着许多细微的区分。正是这些既相互联系又有区别的方法(如法律发现、法律解释、法律论证、价值衡量、法律推理等)构成了法律方法论体系。当我们对这些法律方法有了深入系统的了解后,方法论向本体论的转向就水到渠成了。     

The Traditionality of Statutes*

Abstract. The author begins by sketching the characteristics or elements of every tradition. Some reasons are then suggested for the propensity of so many authors to contrast statutes with other, allegedly more traditional kinds of law. However, it is argued that statutes are deeply embedded, along with customary and judge-made law, in the highly traditional practices of law and that this matters much more than is commonly suspected. The thesis being defended here is not merely that law includes traditions along with rules, principles, maxims, and so on, but rather that legal systems should be understood as traditions, albeit highly complex ones. Not only are ancient legal systems (the Talmudic, for example) held to be traditional; modem legal positive orders are viewed as being traditional too. Finally, the concept of “communities of interpretation” is applied to the contemporary posited statutes which are believed by many to be a distinguishing feature of modem legal systems.     

The Poetry of Negligence

Poetry and legal rhetoric are both forms of what the ancient Greeks called poēsis: the art of the word. Tradition nonetheless assigns poetry to the realm of art and beauty, and legal rhetoric to the different realm of law and truth. The late William Matthews' poem ``Negligence' transgresses the boundaries that we have erected between art and law, and beauty and truth. The poem presents a well-crafted piece of legal rhetoric in the form of art. This essay draws out the implications of Matthews' transgression, and suggests that in the end poetry and law have a lot in common: both are forms of manipulation by means of words. The essay develops this connection in order to join with Emmanuel Levinas in calling for a ``breakup in the omnipotence of the logos.' This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

功能主义"法律史解释"及其限度——评瞿同祖《中国法律与中国社会》

《中国法律与中国社会》的功能主义倾向集中体现于其整体文化观,即历时性向度的"古代法整体论"和共时性向度的"法律的社会决定论"。经由历时性问题共时性化而达致的整体文化观不仅因看不到社会/法律变迁、"小传统"与"大传统"的互动博弈而有失之专断的简单化缺陷,而且其法律史解释也因其梅因式单线进化论和"尾随西方"的现代化模式之前设的存在而具有较大的主观性。法律的功能分析与整体文化观、单线进化论前设之间也存有张力。