The Legal Discourse of the Common Law: A Game of Chess

English law, like any otherspecialized topic, needs a particular languagefor its understanding. The legal discourse ofthe common law gathers a set of theoretical andcustomary mechanisms subject to internal orexternal intrusions into its directions foruse. Two ideas are highlighted: the rigidity ofthe overall regulating structure of the law,and the use of `fuzzy sets' to provideflexibility to legal discourse. This unsteadyor fuzzy discourse production proves thislanguage to be the result of a long and complexhistorical process of socialisation. Theseinteractions of reference and of wordinglegitimate a mode of precise and technicalinstitutional stratification, combining bothconstruction and argumentation.