Abstract
As a most stimulating example, we quote here from the prize-winning article of Michelle Wirth JD some considerations related to the above steps. The article applies semiotics to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court case Ferguson v. McKiernan to reveal the shift in social context that made the lines of legal reasoning behind the outcome appear “self-evident” for lawyers and the public.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Michelle Wirth: “Who’s Your Daddy? Or: Using Semiotic Tools to Deconstruct Legal Determinations of Who Holds Parenthood Obligations and Privileges”. In: International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, Vol. 22. No.1, 2009, p. 83 ff. and: Jan M. Broekman & Francis J. Mootz: The Semiotics of Law in Legal Education, Springer 2011, Ch. 9.
- 2.
Ferguson v. McKiernan, 940A.2d 1236 (Pa. 2008).
- 3.
Ferguson, 940A.2d at 1245–46.
- 4.
See generally, Id. at 1242–43, “Sperm Donor’s” argument.
- 5.
Id. at 1246 (stating, “In the case of traditional sexual reproduction, there simply is no question that the parties to any resultant conception and birth may not contract between themselves to deny the child the support he or she requires. See, e.g., Knorr, 588A.2d at 505 (“[Parent’s] right to bargain for themselves is their own business. They cannot in that process set a standard that will leave their children short.”); Kesler, 744A.2d at 796.”)
- 6.
See Id. at 1249, dissenting opinion (stating “Section 5102 of the Domestic Relations Code prescribes that “[a]ll children shall be legitimate irrespective of the marital status of their parents,” and, subject to limited exceptions not applicable here, “in every case where children are born out of wedlock, they shall enjoy all the rights and privileges as if they had been born during the wedlock of their parents [.]” 23 Pa.C.S. § 5102(a).”)
- 7.
Ferguson, 940A.2d at 1246.
- 8.
A final square that closes these instructive remarks can be consulted In: M. Wirth: “Semiotics of Parenthood in Semiotic Perspective”, In: Broekman/Mootz, Op.cCt., p. 168.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Broekman, J.M., Backer, L.C. (2013). The Legal Semiotic Modus Operandi: Squares. In: Lawyers Making Meaning. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5458-4_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5458-4_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5457-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5458-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawLaw and Criminology (R0)