ABSTRACT

What does 'the law' look like? While numerous attempts have been made to examine law and legal action in terms of its language, little has yet been written that considers how visual images of the law influence its interpretation and execution in ways not discernible from written texts. This groundbreaking collection focuses on images in law, featuring contributions that show and discuss the perception of the legal universe on a theoretical basis or when dealing with visual semiotics (dress, ceremony, technology, etc.). It also examines 'language in action', analyzing jury instructions, police directives, and how imagery is used in conjunction with contentious social and political issues within a country, such as the image of family in Ireland or the image of racism in France.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

part 1|131 pages

Images of Law

chapter 1|8 pages

Deep Structures of Empire

A Note on Imperial Machines and Bodies

chapter 3|16 pages

Key Words in Chinese Law

chapter 4|20 pages

Visual Semiotics of Court Dress in England and Wales

Failed or Successful Vector of Professional Identity?

chapter 5|18 pages

The Drama of the Courtroom

chapter 7|24 pages

A Las Meninas for the Law

part 2|139 pages

Legal Language in Action

chapter 8|16 pages

Legal Language in Action

Raising Basic Awareness about and Understanding of Competing Legal Systems in the Legal Classroom

chapter 9|15 pages

Discourses of the Ideal and the Actual in the Courtroom

The Conflict for Jurors in ‘Making Sense' of General Instructions

chapter 10|30 pages

Jurors' Recorded Deliberations

An Analysis

chapter 11|24 pages

‘Let Me See Your Hands'

The Grammar of Physical Control in Police Directives

chapter 12|26 pages

Images of the Irish Family

A ‘Slightly' Constitutional Arrangement 1

chapter 14|14 pages

Law's Trouble with Images

Fetishism and Seduction from Athens and Jerusalem to Madison Avenue