Publication details
Neznalost neomlouvá aneb K tzv. demystifikaci právního jazyka
| Title in English | Ignorance is no Excuse: On the So-called "Demystification" of Legal Language |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2005 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | ToP (tlumočení-překlad) |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | legal language; law; Plain English; myths; language reform |
| Description | The article is a reaction to efforts to simplify the language of legal documents. The author shows that such simplification is often counter-productive because legal language is a specific language register with its own discourse requirements. Due to the specific recipients of legal texts, the same criteria cannot be applied to, for instance legislative language, as to everyday spoken language. The author deals with issues of precision vs. intentional vagueness of legal texts, legal qualifications contributing to the flexibility of legal instruments, as well as the indirectness in expressing certain speech acts. |