‘MAKING OUR LAW STUDENTS COMPREHEND FOREIGN LEGAL TERMINOLOGY: THE QUEST FOR IDENTIFYING FUNCTION, CONTEXT, THE SEMAINON AND THE SEMAINOMENON IN THE TEACHING OF COMPARATIVE LAW’
PDF

Keywords

Law students
function
context
semainon
semainomenon
comparative law

How to Cite

PLATSAS, A. E. (2017). ‘MAKING OUR LAW STUDENTS COMPREHEND FOREIGN LEGAL TERMINOLOGY: THE QUEST FOR IDENTIFYING FUNCTION, CONTEXT, THE SEMAINON AND THE SEMAINOMENON IN THE TEACHING OF COMPARATIVE LAW’. Comparative Legilinguistics, 2, 105–118. https://doi.org/10.14746/cl.2010.2.09

Abstract

This paper will explore the implications in relation to the possibility of making law students comprehend foreign legal terminology. The starting point of our analysis, our hypothesis, will be that the law student is not necessarily equipped with foreign language skills. For this reason the author will attempt to demonstrate that comparative lawyers must familiarise their unfamiliarised (students of law) with familiar domestic[1] terminology where this is possible. If no such familiar concepts can be found, the comparative lawyer should attempt to proceed with ‘translating’ foreign legal concepts by the use of ‘close (functional) terminological equivalents’ in one’s domestic legal language (school of functionalism). If, on the other hand, no parallel legal devices for the foreign legal term are found in one’s domestic jurisdiction, the comparative lawyer should proceed by deploying a contextual approach in his analysis/teaching (school of contextualism). Above all, one is reminded that words are mere conventions. So too legal terms are mere conventions. As a result, it would be neglectful to not state that our students must be assisted in identifying the semainon (σημαίνον) and the semainomenon (σημαινόμενον), that is assisted in identifying the signified and the signifier, when they engage themselves with foreign legal terminology in their comparative law studies. Additionally, as Van Hoecke has argued, apparently disconnected notions, concepts or areas of law may well be relevant to each other (Van Hoecke 2004, 175). Yet, it would be perfectly ‘legitimate’ on certain occasions for one to compare prima facie connected terms such as ‘Interprétation – Interpretation or Construction – Auslegung respectively in French, English and German, since these terms are a perfectly valid comparative trio (all words basically refer to the same intellectual activity) (Platsas 2008, 6; quoting Van Hoecke, op. cit., n. 3). All in all, the paper will conclude that the comparative lawyer should be constantly reminded of the difficulties that his/her students might have when dealing with foreign legal terminology, because of one has it that even experienced comparative lawyers can face problems of comprehension when dealing with foreign legal terminology.


[1] Cf. Zweigert and Kötz 1998, 35; according to them the comparatist can only reach ideal results, if he ‘eradicates the preconceptions of his native legal system.’

https://doi.org/10.14746/cl.2010.2.09
PDF

Funding

The author wishes to thank another colleague of his

David Hodgkinson

for proofreading the work. The work has been conducted under the Teaching Informed by Research (TIR) Initiative of the University of Derby.

References

Primary Sources

Case Law

Davy v Leeds Corporation [1964] 3 All ER 390, [1964] 1 WLR 1218, 16 P&CR 244, 62 LGR 628, [1964] RVR 776, 128 JP 541.

Secondary Sources

Books

Akmajian, A., R.A. Demers, A.K. Farmer, and R.M. Harnish. 1990. An Introduction to Language and Communication. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Baskin, R. and de Saussure, F. 1960. Course in General Linguistics. London: Peter Owen.

Beaulac, S. 2004. The Power of Language in the Making of International Law. Leiden/Boston Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Crawford, J. 1979. The Creation of States in International Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Crystal, D. 2007. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. 2009. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

David, R. 1980. English and French Law. London: Stevens.

Freeman, M.D.A. 2008. Lloyd‟s Introduction to Jurisprudence. London: Sweet & Maxwell – Thomson Reuters.

Glendon, A.M., Gordon, M.W. and Osakwe, C. 1994. Comparative Legal Traditions, St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing.

Kahn-Freund, O. 1965. Comparative Law as an Academic Subject. Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press.

Haigh, R. 2009. Legal English. Abingdon: Routledge-Cavendish.

Maharg, P. 2007. Transforming Legal Education. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

Merryman, J.H. 1999. The Loneliness of the Comparative Lawyer. The Hague: Kluwer.

Örücü, E. 2004. The Enigma of Comparative Law. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Śarčević, S. 1997. New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague/London/Boston: Kluwer Law International.

Wacks, R. 2009. Understanding Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Legal Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.

Zweigert, K, and Kôtz, H. 1998. An Introduction to Comparative Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chapters or other parts of a book

Beaudoin, L. 2009. Legal Translation in Canada: the Genius of Legal Language(s). In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 136-144. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Brand, O. 2009. Language as a Barrier to Comparative Law. In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 18-34. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

de Groot, G.R. 2009. Legal Translation. In Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, ed. Smits, J., 423-433. Cheltenham: EE Publishing.

Doczekalska, A. 2009. Drafting or Translation – Production of Multilingual Legal Texts. In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 116-135. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Grosswald Curran, V. 2008. Comparative Law and Language. In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, eds. Reimann, M., and Zimmermann R., 675-707. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kischel, U. 2009. Legal Cultures – Legal Languages. In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 7-17. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kôtz, H. 2003. The Trento Project and its Contribution to the Europeanization of Private Law. In The Common Core of European Private Law, eds. Bussani, M., and Mattei, U., 209-219. The Hague/London/New York: Kluwer Law International.

Lambert, J. 2009. The Status and Position of Legal Translation: a Chapter in the Discursive Construction of Societies. In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 76-95. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lazareff, S. 1999. International Arbitration: towards a Common Procedural Approach. In Conflicting Legal Cultures in Commercial Arbitration: Old Issues and New Trends, eds. Frommel, S., and Rider, B., 31-38. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.

Gotti, M. 2009. Translation Issues in Language and Law. In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 55-75. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

McAuliffe, K. 2009. Translation at the Court of Justice of the European Communities. In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 99-115. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Pound, R. 1954. Some Thoughts about Comparative Law. In Festscrift für Ernst Rabel ed. Dolle, H. Tübingen: Mohr.

Sacco, R. 1994. La traduzione giuridica. In Il linguaggio del diritto, eds. Scarpelli, U., and Di Lucia, P., 475-490. Milan: Edizioni Universitarie di Lettere, Economia e Diritto.

Schäffner, C. 1998. Parallel Texts in Translation. In L Bowker (ed), Unity or Diversity? Current Trends in Translation Studies, ed. Bowker, L., 83-90. Manchester: Saint Jerome Publishing.

Stein, D. 2009. Introduction: Forensic Translation – Practical Issues and their Theoretical Underpinnings. In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 1-4. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Triebel, V. 2009. Pitfalls of English as a Contract Language. In Translation Issues in Language and Law, eds. Olsen, F., Lorz, A., and Stein, D., 147-181. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Trosborg, A. 1997. Translating Hybrid Political Texts. In Text Typology and Translation, ed. Trosborg, A., 145-158. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Van Hoecke, M. 2004. Deep Level Comparative Law. In Epistemology and Methodology of Comparative Law, ed. Van Hoecke, M., 165-196. Oxford and Portland Oregon: Hart Publishing.

Wallow, A. 2006. Herausforderung zu begrifflichen Reflexion: Recht und Sprache aus der Sicht des Rechtsvergleichers. In Law and Language – Recht und Sprache, eds. Lundmark, T., and Wallow, A., 3-13. Berlin/Hamburg/Münster: LIT.

Translated works

Anscombe, G.E.M., trans. 1968. Philosophical Investigations of Wittgenstein. Oxford, Basil Blackwell.

Journal Articles

Bilder, R.B. 1994. Perspectives on Sovereignty in the Current Context: An American Viewpoint. Canada-United States Law Journal 20: 9-17.

Grosswald Curran, V. 1998. Cultural Immersion, Difference and Categories in U.S. Comparative Law. American Journal of Comparative Law 46: 43-92.

Legrand, P. 2000-2001. The Return of the Repressed: Moving Comparative Studies Beyond Pleasure. Tulane Law Review 75: 1033-1052.

Articles in online journals

Platsas, A.E. 2008. The Functional and the Dysfunctional in the Comparative Method of Law: Some Critical Remarks. 12(3) Electronic Journal of Comparative Law 6 (December), http://www.ejcl.org/123/art123-3.pdf (accessed June 3, 2009).

Miscellaneous

Nicholas, B. 1993. The United Kingdom and the Vienna Sales Convention: Another Case of Splendid Isolation?. Centre of Comparative and Foreign Law Studies, University of Rome I (March). http://servizi.iit.cnr.it/~crdcs/crdcs/frames9.htm

(accessed June 3, 2009).