Socially Induced Changes in Legal Terminology Matulewska, Aleksandra
Studies in logic, grammar and rhetoric : the Journal of University of Bialystok,
3/2017, Volume:
49, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The author intends to present evolutionary and revolutionary changes in legal terminology. Legal terminology changes as a result of language usage, technological development, political and social ...changes and even economy reasons. The following research methods have been applied: the terminological analysis of the research material (empirical observation, analysis of comparable texts and parametric approach to legal terminology comparison) and the analysis of pertinent literature. The research material included legislation from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada and Australia. The author focuses on terminological changes resulting from social transformations. Selected terms and their transformation in respect to meaning and form are elaborated on in the paper. Finally, the author draws conclusions that translation of such terminology should aim at communication precision and many of them may be false friends in interlingual communication.
This article examines how Reich Citizens use legal terminology in their texts and instrumentalize it for their ideological purposes. For this purpose, two corpora with a total of 109 texts from the ...Reich Citizens scene are analyzed in more detail with regard to legal terminology. On the one hand, the texts represent letters from Reich Citizens to authorities; on the other hand, they are sample letters and forms that Reich Citizens present as templates on the Internet. They contain an extremely wide range of specific legal terminology, which is documented here as an example. In addition, however, there is also a great number of pseudo-legal lexis. Another specific feature is the widespread use of archaic legal terminology, through which Reich Citizens obviously want to give their texts a historical foundation. A few selected examples can then be used to show in detail that legal lexis is deliberately reinterpreted in the texts and placed in extraneous contexts according to expediency in order to delegitimize the Federal Republic of Germany and its representatives on the one hand and to support the Reich Citizens worldview on the other.
The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the conceptualization of legal terminology. It has been emphasized that legal concepts are important for the functioning of legal ...institutions. It has been noted that most of the legal terms aimed at unambiguous and consistent interpretation of legal texts are established in various legal documents. The boundaries of most subject areas are unclear, and their use in different areas of law may lead to the application of different criteria to establish the essence of the term.Attention is drawn to the fact that terminological work traditionally focuses on the organization of concepts and lexical items in a specialized field, in which each term is one concept, and each concept is denoted by one term. The definition of a particular area of law and terms related to that area includes the establishment of both terminological and conceptual boundaries, which allows clear and unambiguous use of the relevant categories. A clear approach to understanding the term contributes to the quality of legislation that affects the stability of state life.It is emphasized that ambiguous terms are used in modern legislation. Given the foreign experience in the context of European Union law, the timing of interdisciplinary concepts seems more appropriate due to the complex relationship between the national law of the Member States and the law of the European Union. Emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary concepts, i.e. concepts or institutions that arise in more than one legal field. More specifically, such concepts may apply to both the national legal system and the law of the European Union. Although the same term is used to denote an interdisciplinary concept, its conceptualization may differ in various areas of law and different legal systems, which may adversely affect the case because there will be no common approach to understanding the term.It is noted that the study of legal terminology should focus on the elements of the legal solution of the real problem.
This paper aims to discuss the terminological influence of the Napoleonic Code on Polish legal terminology. Five major theses are formulated and supported by selected examples from two 19th century ...translations of the Code into Polish. We claim that, firstly, the Napoleonic Code had a major impact on the Polonisation of Polish legal lexis in the 19th century, and secondly, that where Polish legal language bears evidence of the influence of the adaptation of the Napoleonic law it is in structural calques from French and not in an increase of French borrowings in the Polish legal language; moreover, we provide evidence that the Napoleonic Code led to the redefinition of previously used terms in the Polish legal system, and finally, that it had a crucial impact on the systematisation of Polish legal terminology in the 19th century leading to its more contemporary character, closer to modern demands. The study contributes to a broader comparative analysis of the role of the Code in the history of shaping and transforming the terminological systems across national languages.
U članku se raspravlja o utjecaju Napoleonova zakonika na poljsku pravnu terminologiju. Formulirano je pet osnovnih teza, potkrijepljenih odabranim primjerima iz dvaju poljskih prijevoda Zakonika iz XIX. stoljeća. Može se zaključiti da je Napoleonov zakonik u znatnoj mjeri utjecao na eliminaciju latinizama i latinskih termina te na njihovu zamjenu domaćim ekvivalentima, a zatim i da francuske terminološke posuđenice obično imaju karakter strukturnih prevedenica, a ne leksičkih posuđenica. Štoviše, pokazalo se da je Napoleonov zakonik doveo do redefiniranja termina koji su prije bili u uporabi u poljskome pravnom sustavu i da je imao odlučujući utjecaj na usustavljivanje poljske pravne terminologije tijekom XIX. stoljeća, dovodeći do njezine modernizacije, koja je u skladu i sa suvremenom situacijom. Studija je dio šire poredbene analize uloge Zakonika u povijesti oblikovanja i preoblikovanja terminološkog sustava u narodnim jezicima.
The translation of legal texts has become a very important activity in our modern, international societies. Globalization has created a great need for multilingual versions of all kinds of legal ...texts. However, both law itself and legal language and terminology have a special characteristic: they are system-bound. Every country or autonomous region sets up its own legal system, and this has far-reaching consequences not only for the drawing up and especially the translation of legal texts, but also for comparative law and international and European law.
In this article, we describe certain typical features of the terminology of labour law and expand on one particular term to show the problems in translation work. The multilingual character of European law, the need for translation and the specific wording of labour law texts in the individual member states lead to many translation problems and to legal insecurity for citizens. By analysing relevant terms in the transport sector, we discuss current research that compares concepts and terms in European, Polish, Dutch and Belgian labour law.
В статье рассматривается важность использования точной и однозначной юридической терминологии в английском языке для обеспечения ясности и надежности правовых документов. Автор указывает на ...специфические особенности юридической терминологии, такие как ее латинское и французское происхождение, строгое использование терминов, их формальность и стандартизированность. Основываясь на исторических аспектах, автор выделяет три периода, которые способствовали появлению юридической лексики в английском языке: заимствования из латинского языка после Римского завоевания Британии, влияния нормандско-французского языка после завоевания Нормандии, а также появление новой лексики в более поздние периоды благодаря научному и техническому прогрессу. Автор подчеркивает, что понимание терминологии в юриспруденции на английском языке является важным навыком для юристов и специалистов в области права, позволяющим эффективнее взаимодействовать на международном уровне. Главная идея статьи заключается в том, что точное использование юридической терминологии является ключевым элементом для обеспечения ясности и правильного понимания в юридической деятельности.
The concept of equivalence, despite the criticism it has received in the past decades, remains a useful framework for the study of correspondence between legal terms. In the present article, I ...address the question of direction-asymmetric equivalence in legal translation, i.e. equivalence that does not obey the “one-to-one” principle, and which usually implies that the translator’s decision-making is more difficult in one direction than in the other. This asymmetry may be triggered by intrinsic semantic characteristics of legal terms (synonymy and polysemy), by differences between legal systems (system-specific terms, the procedures used for their translation and their handling in lexicographic sources, competing legal systems, tension between cultural boundedness and neutrality), or by social factors (L1 vs. L2 translation). The instances of directional asymmetry discussed are illustrated with examples from French and Czech.
The concept of equivalence, despite the criticism it has received in the past decades, remains a useful framework for the study of correspondence between legal terms. In the present article, I ...address the question of direction-asymmetric equivalence in legal translation, i.e. equivalence that does not obey the “one-to-one” principle, and which usually implies that the translator’s decision-making is more difficult in one direction than in the other. This asymmetry may be triggered by intrinsic semantic characteristics of legal terms (synonymy and polysemy), by differences between legal systems (system-specific terms, the procedures used for their translation and their handling in lexicographic sources, competing legal systems, tension between cultural boundedness and neutrality), or by social factors (L1 vs. L2 translation). The instances of directional asymmetry discussed are illustrated with examples from French and Czech.
Given that Hungarian criminal law before 1848 can be described as typically customary law, it requires the exploration of court practices (the examination of documents in the archives) for one to ...become acquainted with the criminal law applied by them. This period is the first attempt in Hungary to create legal terminology. From 1806 onwards, the language of first-tier jurisdiction gradually became Hungarian in several counties (e.g. Csanád County), and the previous, relatively uniform Latin system of terms “disintegrated”. Counties began to write their own dictionaries (1806–1807) and create new Hungarian words to replace the Latin terms. Court records named crimes with excessive diversity, which is even more conspicuous in the categories of legal dogmatics. During the 1810s, culpa dolo determinata also appears in the legal science of the era. Several Hungarian terms can be observed replacing dolus and culpa; one such term is “accident’. The analysis of three legal cases (1808, 1811, 1821) leads to the conclusion that the tribunal treated “accident” as the opposite of wilful intent. In one case, it features in the sentence given for prater-intentional manslaughter, and therefore it was presumably used as the Hungarian equivalent of culpa.
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