The Dialogical Language of Law

63 Pages Posted: 20 Nov 2021

See all articles by Julen Etxabe

Julen Etxabe

University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Law

Date Written: October 17, 2021

Abstract

We live in a dialogical world. The normative environment around us is many-voiced. Legal activities like drafting, negotiating, interpreting, judging, invoking, and even protesting the law take place in dialogical encounters, all of which presuppose entrenched forms of social dialogue. And yet the dominant modes of thinking about the law remain monological. How can we bring our legal conceptions in alignment with the dialogical world in which we live?

The present article follows in the footsteps of a dialogical, Bakhtinian theory of language that challenges the roots of contemporary positivist conceptions of law and language underpinning large swathes of legal academia and the legal profession—including recent approaches to legal interpretation called corpus linguistics. Against this backdrop, the article aims to develop a richer and more textured dialogical jurisprudence to encompass the various aspects, activities, and genres where legal language is employed.

Keywords: Jurisprudence, Law and Language, Bakhtin, Dialogical, Legal Positivism, Corpus Linguistics, Critical Theory, Law and Humanities

Suggested Citation

Etxabe, Julen, The Dialogical Language of Law (October 17, 2021). Forthcoming in Osgoode Hall Law Journal 59:2 (2022 Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3944255 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3944255

Julen Etxabe (Contact Author)

University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Law ( email )

1822 East Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/our-people/julen-etxabe

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