ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the concept of genre partly by contrast with linguistic register. It looks at how discourse genres function in law. The chapter illustrates how legal genres have developed by reference to the history of law reporting. Examining the genre of the law report brings different rewards depending on the perspective from which such reports are viewed. The chapter looks at features of another legal text type: the statute. It considers legal genres either synchronically or diachronically. Studying genre diachronically involves investigating the historical development of genres and the combination of linguistic and institutional forces acting on the processes of change that affect them. Synchronically involves analysing a number of factors: the configuration, at a particular time, of the community of users of legal discourse; the types of text they produce, use or expect to encounter; and normative pressures on what they do and believe.
