Comparative Law and Language

Les problèmes de traduction juridique

2022-02-18T17:43:44+00:00

Rapport présenté par le professeur Rodolfo Sacco lors du XIIe Congrès international de droit comparé, Sidney 1986 (Australie).

Translating the idea of “prééminence du droit”: divergent origins and homogeneous evolutions of État de droit, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Stato di diritto and Rule of law?

2022-02-18T17:09:50+00:00

The article analyses the different constitutional and national background of the ideas of État de droit, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Stato di diritto and Rule of law, to verify how much such concepts can be reciprocally translated. Such ideas are indeed linked by a common purpose: the subjection of political power to law. However, a certain homogeneity in linguistic definitions stay together with a deep heterogeneity in the rules of application, especially looked in an historical perspective. Nevertheless, the European and international integration of the legal systems seems to realize a progressive standardization also in the field of the more general concepts of legal theory, like the rule of law, taking the legislators and the courts toward a “global legality”.

Regulatory Linguistic Requirements for Product Labelling in the Internal Market of the European Union

2022-02-18T17:19:37+00:00

The free movement of goods is one of the four core freedoms in the EU internal market. In that regard, the linguistic diversity of the EU can form an obstacle to the achievement of that aim, when on a national or even subnational level specific regulatory linguistic requirements are imposed on the labelling of products. The tension between market integration and economic efficiency on the one hand and linguistic diversity, on the other, has been dealt with in a wide array of linguistic arrangements laid down in various EU regulations and directives. However, rather than tackling this issue in a general and uniform way, EU legislation proceeds on a case-to-case basis. The lack of a global and coherent policy in this regard has resulted in heterogeneous linguistic arrangements, which are inconsistent as to the distribution of power between the EU and its Member States, and create some degree of legal uncertainty. It is argued in this article that more coherence is needed on the basis of clear and transparent general criteria such as product hazards, public health and consumer protection. As a general rule, a better balance should be struck between the essential principles underlying any linguistic regulatory provision, namely the freedom of language (for manufacturers, importers and distributors) to market their products in the EU internal market on the one hand, and the territoriality principle on the other, according to which EU Member States may determine the use of languages on their territory in order to protect end-users and consumers.

The unpredictable path of legal transplants: some analogy with language evolution

2022-02-18T17:33:12+00:00

Historically, comparative lawyers have always paid great attention to the relation between law and language. Not only because it is very difficult to convey a legal message without using language (images may be ambiguous), but also because of some parallelisms between the evolution of languages and of legal institutions. In the present time, where “politically correctness” of language has become a priority, can we learn something from efforts to improve the way in which ordinary people speak or write? How far will directions to avoid discrimination in public discourse affect the general communication? Will the “rebellious nature” of spontaneous exchanges resist interferences to improve the condition of some social groups? A reflection on past experiences may help us in focusing on today’s issues.

The legal recognition of sign languages in an intersectional perspective

2022-02-18T17:51:54+00:00

Sign language is a key instrument of communication for the deaf community. For this reason, it is important that sign language finds recognition at a legislative level and is promoted as an inclusive means let people to use it, to communicate and to receive information.

This article presents the increasing importance of sign languages with a special focus on the recent legislative acknowledgement in the Italian legal context. After the presentation of the theoretical framework in which sign languages are considered, the article proposes a model to describe and analyse the various level of recognition and protection that sign languages could have in different legal systems, with a particular focus on European states. This brings to the presentation and the critical assessment of the recent recognition of Italian Sign Language (LIS) in Italy. Conclusions suggest the preferable way for sign languages recognition and promotion, with the aim of guarantee the effective right to use it to all, irrespective of their individual conditions.

Editorial

2022-02-18T15:21:46+00:00

Editorial to the first issue

The entangled relationship between law and language in the globalized world.

2022-02-18T17:57:21+00:00

Report of the first edition of the Winter school L.L.I.N.G.U.E. Legal Languages in National, Global and Uniform Environments, December 13^th-17^th, Trento University, Faculty of Law (Italy).