ivr
IVR2022
SW23
Languages of the law: vocabularies and uses
CONVENORS: Verena Klappstein, Maciej Dybowski
The functioning of legal systems by necessity involves using a language. The language is used by lawmakers, courts, lawyers, and the science of law. A lot of academic papers and classifications have been written on this subject. Of these classifications, the most basic one seems to be based on the degrees of language: here is some language in which the law is formulated, say the language of the sources of law, and then there is the language or languages in which the law is spoken of, metalanguage (e.g. legal language, legalese, etc.).

We want to examine the relationships between languages in law, as well as what determines the scope of the vocabulary of these languages and the way they are used. In particular, we want to consider what role the theory and philosophy of law play in creating these relationships. Here are some questions we ask:
- is there a universal language of the law or are there many such languages?
- how is the vocabulary of the languages of the law determined?
- what abilities are required to master the use of the languages of the law?
- how to separate out the languages of the law from their metalanguages?
- could metalogical and/or metalinguistic achievements be carried over into law?

The convenors of the SW are:
Dr. Verena Klappstein, University of Passau, email: Verena.Klappstein@uni-passau.de
Dr. Maciej Dybowski, University of Poznań, email: dybowski@amu.edu.pl