Ambiguity and Vagueness in Legal Interpretation

OXFORD HANDBOOK ON LANGUAGE AND LAW, Lawrence Solan & Peter Tiersma, eds., Oxford University Press, 2011

41 Pages Posted: 31 Jul 2010 Last revised: 30 Jan 2011

See all articles by Ralf Poscher

Ralf Poscher

Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law

Date Written: July 31, 2010

Abstract

Vagueness and ambiguity are key problems in theories of legal interpretation. The article first delimits vagueness and ambiguity and sets it into relation to related phenomena like the generality of legal expressions (1). Vagueness proves to be a multi-faceted phenomenon which can be systematised along three distinctions: vagueness of individuation and classification, degree and combinatory vagueness, and semantic and pragmatic vagueness. For law pragmatic vagueness seems of specific import (2.). As for the origins and accounts of vagueness the different approaches are sorted into logic, ontic, epistemic and semantic accounts with epistemic and semantic accounts showing the closest relations to legal theories of interpretation (3.). The last section argues that vagueness is not a threat to legal interpretation and rule of law values properly understood. It is cautious, though, with regard to some suggested values of vagueness. However, it sees a value of vagueness in reducing decision costs, which cannot be completely accommodated by other semantic features of vague concepts like generality (4.).

Keywords: Vagueness, Ambiguity, Interpretation, Law, Indeterminacy, Sorites Paradox, Supervaluation, Borderline Cases

Suggested Citation

Poscher, Ralf, Ambiguity and Vagueness in Legal Interpretation (July 31, 2010). OXFORD HANDBOOK ON LANGUAGE AND LAW, Lawrence Solan & Peter Tiersma, eds., Oxford University Press, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1651465

Ralf Poscher (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law ( email )

Guenterstalstr. 73
Freiburg, 79100
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
2,529
Abstract Views
9,943
Rank
10,249
PlumX Metrics