ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes legal-linguistic methods to analyze the linguistic composition of the statutory articles found in the Xiao lü manuscript in order to demonstrate how the Qin government utilized specific linguistic forms in an attempt to curb judicial discretion and ensure consistent textual interpretation. First, the opening lines of the Xiao lü text are examined. Then the compositional framework of the text is analyzed in order of increasing linguistic complexity. Afterwards, the analysis turns to compositional structures of individual legal articles with specific reference to the problematics of increasing levels of complexity and increasing levels of linguistic ambiguity. Finally, consideration is given to the meta-compositional feature of text-mapping utilized by drafters to produce an internally “coherent” legal statute, as well as integrate a single legal statute into an extant corpus of several statutes in use by the Qin.
