ABSTRACT
This book explores the language of judges. It is concerned with understanding how language works in judicial contexts. Using a range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives, it looks in detail at the ways in which judicial discourse is argued, constructed, interpreted and perceived. Focusing on four central themes - constructing judicial discourse and judicial identities, judicial argumentation and evaluative language, judicial interpretation, and clarity in judicial discourse - the book’s ultimate goal is to provide a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of current critical issues of the role of language in judicial settings. Contributors include legal linguists, lawyers, legal scholars, legal practitioners, legal translators and anthropologists, who explore patterns of linguistic organisation and use in judicial institutions and analyse language as an instrument for understanding both the judicial decision-making process and its outcome.
The book will be an invaluable resource for scholars in legal linguistics and those specialising in judicial argumentation and reasoning ,and forensic linguists interested in the use of language in judicial settings.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|82 pages
Constructing judicial discourse and judicial identities
chapter 2|13 pages
Evidentiality in US Supreme Court opinions
chapter 3|12 pages
Standardisation in the judicial discourse
chapter 4|18 pages
The consensus case law of the European Court of Human Rights in light of the Court's legitimacy over time
part II|61 pages
Judicial argumentation and evaluative language
chapter 7|14 pages
Evaluative language and strategic manoeuvring in the justification of judicial decisions
chapter 8|14 pages
“Without proof of negligence or a causative connection”
part III|70 pages
Judicial interpretation
chapter 10|13 pages
Pedagogies of context
part IV|28 pages
Clarity in judicial discourse