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monarch’s power, delegated to the Lord Chancellor, gave rise to a stream of English law known as equity, that area of law which rectifies the cruelties and injustices of the common law. An area of law where would-be litigants must prove their moral worth prior to the hearing of the case. It can be seen that it is the body of the sovereign that tacitly unites religion, law and politics. It is, of course, the Government that has acquired these powers in reality; the monarch is merely the symbol of their existence. English monarchs still retain, by law, the power to heal. The English system of secular justice, in terms of personnel, processes and rules, is steeped in the Judaeo-Christian justice as interpreted and mediated through English translations of the Greek translations of the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Bible. A Greek language whose vocabulary is shot through with the philosophy of dualism— light/dark, good/bad, good/evil, male/female, slave/free, gods/humans—a dualism not that apparent in Hebrew and Aramaic. This dualism has entered the law through language. So language is powerful, it enables the manifestation of the past in the present and the projection of the future into the present. Language, thus, facilitates easy discussion of complexities like time. Lawyers too, in a similar manner, have tried to prove that the integrity of the judge and/or legislator is carried in the words. A key problem in relation to the integrity of law is the maintenance of certainty despite the variability of language. Some legal doctrines relating to the interpretation of law deny that language has a flexibility, fearing that this would be a sign of its weakness and lack of certainty; others acknowledge the flexibility of language and look to the legislators intention. This, too, is a search for the mythical as legislation is changed for a variety of reasons during its drafting and creation stages. If language is seen to be too flexible, the law begins to look less certain. The root problem here is the language, not the law, yet the two are intimately connected, for the law is carried by the language; so is it not true that the law is the language? The following illustration of linguistic difficulties that concern translation, interpretation and application initially draws quite deliberately from religion to attempt to break preconceptions about language, and to illustrate the problems arising from the necessarily close relationship between language and law. There will be a return to law shortly. The Christian religion, rather than any other religion, is being considered because it is the religion that remains today at the core of English law. This is one reason why English law can have, and has had, difficulty with concepts from differing religious traditions that have presented themselves before the courts demanding acceptance and equality. Whilst English law states that it maintains neutrality in matters of religion and yet fails to resolve major tensions within it in relation to Christianity, discrimination remains at the heart of English law. The law’s understanding of Christianity has come from the collected texts that make up the Bible: texts that different Christian groups in England, Scotland and Wales went to war over in the 16th and 17th centuries. The wars were initiated and supported by differing political factions established after Henry VIII made his break with the authority, but not the theology, of Rome in the early 16th century. Henry VIII took for
DOI link for monarch’s power, delegated to the Lord Chancellor, gave rise to a stream of English law known as equity, that area of law which rectifies the cruelties and injustices of the common law. An area of law where would-be litigants must prove their moral worth prior to the hearing of the case. It can be seen that it is the body of the sovereign that tacitly unites religion, law and politics. It is, of course, the Government that has acquired these powers in reality; the monarch is merely the symbol of their existence. English monarchs still retain, by law, the power to heal. The English system of secular justice, in terms of personnel, processes and rules, is steeped in the Judaeo-Christian justice as interpreted and mediated through English translations of the Greek translations of the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Bible. A Greek language whose vocabulary is shot through with the philosophy of dualism— light/dark, good/bad, good/evil, male/female, slave/free, gods/humans—a dualism not that apparent in Hebrew and Aramaic. This dualism has entered the law through language. So language is powerful, it enables the manifestation of the past in the present and the projection of the future into the present. Language, thus, facilitates easy discussion of complexities like time. Lawyers too, in a similar manner, have tried to prove that the integrity of the judge and/or legislator is carried in the words. A key problem in relation to the integrity of law is the maintenance of certainty despite the variability of language. Some legal doctrines relating to the interpretation of law deny that language has a flexibility, fearing that this would be a sign of its weakness and lack of certainty; others acknowledge the flexibility of language and look to the legislators intention. This, too, is a search for the mythical as legislation is changed for a variety of reasons during its drafting and creation stages. If language is seen to be too flexible, the law begins to look less certain. The root problem here is the language, not the law, yet the two are intimately connected, for the law is carried by the language; so is it not true that the law is the language? The following illustration of linguistic difficulties that concern translation, interpretation and application initially draws quite deliberately from religion to attempt to break preconceptions about language, and to illustrate the problems arising from the necessarily close relationship between language and law. There will be a return to law shortly. The Christian religion, rather than any other religion, is being considered because it is the religion that remains today at the core of English law. This is one reason why English law can have, and has had, difficulty with concepts from differing religious traditions that have presented themselves before the courts demanding acceptance and equality. Whilst English law states that it maintains neutrality in matters of religion and yet fails to resolve major tensions within it in relation to Christianity, discrimination remains at the heart of English law. The law’s understanding of Christianity has come from the collected texts that make up the Bible: texts that different Christian groups in England, Scotland and Wales went to war over in the 16th and 17th centuries. The wars were initiated and supported by differing political factions established after Henry VIII made his break with the authority, but not the theology, of Rome in the early 16th century. Henry VIII took for
monarch’s power, delegated to the Lord Chancellor, gave rise to a stream of English law known as equity, that area of law which rectifies the cruelties and injustices of the common law. An area of law where would-be litigants must prove their moral worth prior to the hearing of the case. It can be seen that it is the body of the sovereign that tacitly unites religion, law and politics. It is, of course, the Government that has acquired these powers in reality; the monarch is merely the symbol of their existence. English monarchs still retain, by law, the power to heal. The English system of secular justice, in terms of personnel, processes and rules, is steeped in the Judaeo-Christian justice as interpreted and mediated through English translations of the Greek translations of the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Bible. A Greek language whose vocabulary is shot through with the philosophy of dualism— light/dark, good/bad, good/evil, male/female, slave/free, gods/humans—a dualism not that apparent in Hebrew and Aramaic. This dualism has entered the law through language. So language is powerful, it enables the manifestation of the past in the present and the projection of the future into the present. Language, thus, facilitates easy discussion of complexities like time. Lawyers too, in a similar manner, have tried to prove that the integrity of the judge and/or legislator is carried in the words. A key problem in relation to the integrity of law is the maintenance of certainty despite the variability of language. Some legal doctrines relating to the interpretation of law deny that language has a flexibility, fearing that this would be a sign of its weakness and lack of certainty; others acknowledge the flexibility of language and look to the legislators intention. This, too, is a search for the mythical as legislation is changed for a variety of reasons during its drafting and creation stages. If language is seen to be too flexible, the law begins to look less certain. The root problem here is the language, not the law, yet the two are intimately connected, for the law is carried by the language; so is it not true that the law is the language? The following illustration of linguistic difficulties that concern translation, interpretation and application initially draws quite deliberately from religion to attempt to break preconceptions about language, and to illustrate the problems arising from the necessarily close relationship between language and law. There will be a return to law shortly. The Christian religion, rather than any other religion, is being considered because it is the religion that remains today at the core of English law. This is one reason why English law can have, and has had, difficulty with concepts from differing religious traditions that have presented themselves before the courts demanding acceptance and equality. Whilst English law states that it maintains neutrality in matters of religion and yet fails to resolve major tensions within it in relation to Christianity, discrimination remains at the heart of English law. The law’s understanding of Christianity has come from the collected texts that make up the Bible: texts that different Christian groups in England, Scotland and Wales went to war over in the 16th and 17th centuries. The wars were initiated and supported by differing political factions established after Henry VIII made his break with the authority, but not the theology, of Rome in the early 16th century. Henry VIII took for
ABSTRACT
The English system of secular justice, in terms of personnel, processes and rules, is steeped in the Judaeo-Christian justice as interpreted and mediated through English translations of the Greek translations of the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Bible. A Greek language whose vocabulary is shot through with the philosophy of dualismlight/dark, good/bad, good/evil, male/female, slave/free, gods/humans-a dualism not that apparent in Hebrew and Aramaic. This dualism has entered the law through language.
