The language of judges [electronic resource] /
Lawrence M. Solan.
- University of Chicago Press, c1993.
- 1 online resource (xii, 218 p.)
- Language and legal discourse .
- Language and legal discourse. .
Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-209) and index.
Preface; Introduction: Judging Language; 1. Chomsky and Cardozo: Linguistics and the Law; 2. The Judge as Linguist; 3. Stacking the Deck; 4. When the Language Is Clear; 5. Too Much Precision; 6. Some Problems with Words: Trying to Understand the Constitution; 7. Why It Hasn't Gotten Any Better; Notes; Table of Cases; Index.
Since many legal disputes are battles over the meaning of a statute, contract, testimony, or the Constitution, judges must interpret language in order to decide why one proposed meaning overrides another. And in making their decisions about meaning appear authoritative and fair, judges often write about the nature of linguistic interpretation. In the first book to examine the linguistic analysis of law, Lawrence M. Solan shows that judges sometimes inaccurately portray the way we use language, creating inconsistencies in their decisions and threatening the fairness of the judicial system. Sola.