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Definitions and Applications

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Law, Language and Translation

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Law ((BRIEFSLAW))

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Abstract

Moving on from concepts and interpretative issues, materials and methods are illustrated and featured. As we move from concepts and definitions to multilingual lexicography, we need to build a framework that enables us to improve communication and translation quality. The methods used for this are cross-cultural thematics and contrastive lexicography. Words of the law are compared in their different contexts and texts are analyzed using examples. We have chosen the common legal key term ‘rule,’ and the question of ‘obstruction of justice.’ The latter is analyzed with reference to the famous Frost-Nixon interview. The televised material is now available on the Web and has been adapted for stage and film. Here, too, the debated issues are also key terms and concepts. Differing global perceptions and representations of the seriousness of an offense or crime are further developed in the subsequent parts.

‘Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer?

Where be his quiddities now, his quillities, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks?’

(William Shakespeare, Hamlet, V, I, 99)

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful

tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.’

‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words

mean so many different things.’

‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master—

that’s all.’

Lewis Carrol, Through the Looking Glass

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/nixon-obstruction-of-justice/ (Access 11 September 2014).

  2. 2.

    http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/nixon-obstruction-of-justice/ (Access 11 September 2014).

  3. 3.

    The language in which the law is written and structured is considered the prescriptive model into which national languages is cast, as in the case of King James Bible (see further).

  4. 4.

    ‘Libera nos a malo—La libertà’ conference held at the International University ‘Stranieri’, Perugia, September 13, 2014.

  5. 5.

    See documentary Unprecedented. The 2000 Presidential Election, directors Richard Pérez and Robert Greenwald (2004).

  6. 6.

    Negative reaction (dismay and frustration) has been experienced at all time by the authors when teaching postgraduate courses (2008–2014; University for Foreigners, Perugia, Italy).

  7. 7.

    The author adopts a functional approach in a pragmatic perspective (1999, pp. 391–408). Other authors focus on techniques of ‘legal transposition’ or in French ‘transposition juridique’ (Didier 1990, p. 9; Crépeau 1995, pp. 51–61; Šarčević 1997, pp. 12–13).

  8. 8.

    Surrejoinder Italian: “replica dell’attore alla duplica del convenuto”. (WLCD) Duplica is Italian legalese for the common word replica. Omitted in other dictionaries.

  9. 9.

    Most Italian-English dictionaries consulted do not record the difference, which is partly given in WDCL. The difference in terminology and obsolescence of terminology due to reforms is duly recorded in the Oxford Law Dictionary, and, even if less precisely, in American West’s. Italian equivalent claimant/plaintiff is querelante with no difference; and for defendant: ‘imputato, convenuto, citato in giudizio,’ depending on physical presence in court.

  10. 10.

    Robert Dick gives a full list of two-word and three-words strings (1985, pp. 126–127). Cited in Cao (2007), pp. 89–90.

  11. 11.

    David Crystal’s comments on a courtroom clerk’s record (1615) on a case of alleged defamation. The language is a fascinating mix of legal and colloquial styles, at one extreme using such formal and formulaic locutions as the said deponent (i.e., the person making the deposition) and at the other reporting everyday vocabulary (to doe with, whore) and syntax (hast minde, wentes to leache, thancke mee for it). The two styles meld in such phrases as as farre as this deponent ever heard, which presumably is a transcription of ‘as far as I ever heard’ (2004), p. 336.

  12. 12.

    See Garavelli (1997), pp. 234–237. English explanation in brackets is the author’s (Masiola).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social and Human Sciences Department, International University ‘Stranieri’ of Perugia, Piazza Fortebraccio 4, 06124, Perugia, Italy

    Rosanna Masiola & Renato Tomei

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  1. Rosanna Masiola
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  2. Renato Tomei
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Correspondence to Rosanna Masiola .

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Masiola, R., Tomei, R. (2015). Definitions and Applications. In: Law, Language and Translation. SpringerBriefs in Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14271-5_3

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